Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To correct by punishment or reproof; take to task.
- v. To restrain; subdue: chasten a proud spirit.
- v. To rid of excess; refine or purify: chasten a careless writing style.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To inflict pain, trouble, or affliction on for the purpose of reclaiming from evil; correct; chastise; punish: formerly of corporal punishment, but now, chiefly with a moral reference, of disciplinary affliction.
- To purify by discipline, as the taste; refine; make chaste: as, to chasten the imagination, the taste, or one's style.
- Synonyms Punish, etc. See chastise.
- n. See chesten.
Wiktionary
- v. To punish (in order to bring about improvement in behavior, attitude, etc.); to restrain, moderate
- v. To make chaste; to purify.
- v. To punish or reprimand for the sake of improvement; to discipline.
- v. To render humble or restrained.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To correct by punishment; to inflict pain upon the purpose of reclaiming; to discipline.
- v. To purify from errors or faults; to refine.
WordNet 3.0
- v. censure severely
- v. correct by punishment or discipline
- v. restrain.
Etymologies
- chaste + -en (Wiktionary)
- Alteration of obsolete chaste, from Middle English chasten, chastien, from Old French chastiier, from Latin castigāre; see castigate. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This is a classic example of deliberate capital flight and capital destruction, a tactic used by monopolistic finance capital frequently to "chasten" any government that appears to be intruding into the sacred practices of "free market" capitalism.”
“For all her whining that it's actually her that has been wronged, for all Fox News' post-speech takeaway that the president's speech absolved them from any culpability in the dangerous turn in public political discourse, I can't help but hope that the deaths in Tucson will chasten them, just a little.”
The Huffington Post: Trey Ellis: The President Has Come of Age
“There's more but that should be enough to duly chasten those of us treating the Scottish bard with unwarranted southern Californian familiarity.”
“The decision shouldn't chasten common or garden variety celebs.”
“We need to place the blame where it belongs, to chasten our policy elites.”
“Government sources explained that it is meant to "chasten" Pakistan for expelling American trainers and to press the army to take on the entire array of militants on Pakistani soil.”
“How trying it must be to have only suggestion, rather than force, with which to chasten the euro zone's bunglers and their tiresome democratic mandates.”
The Wall Street Journal: China's Leaving Europe in the Slow Lane
“This cost at least two seats in the Senate, and it ought to chasten tea partiers who want House Republicans to perform immediate miracles.”
“The flap over the leak did nothing to chasten the Pentagon.”
“Only now was not the time to chasten her, not with all the others watching.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘chasten’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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(1st_wk_150)-Dec_5_2012
replete, steeped, eminent, indiscriminate, voracious, automaton, prognosticate, technology, abound, matron, tinge, compound and 297 more...
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Article's related words
reading 2 articles a week and here will reference unknown words, weekly!
fervor, belie, inure, hiatus, ambivalent, chasten, revere, despise, expurgate, edify, neologism, inchoate and 13 more...
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Censure (v.)
Someone must have had an inferiority complex.
vituperate, vilify, trounce, traduce, slander, scold, revile, reprove, reprimand, reprehend, remonstrate, rebuke and 37 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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(more or less) Temporary Urth List
Temporary list is temporary.
Collecting a few words here, which are then to be alloted to other lists.vassal, gnaw, putrescence, liege, pederasty, disseminate, loot, waning, fitful, hiatuse, plow, pious and 292 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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vocabulary.com
it says that i mastered these words
Assuage, abject, adjure, ancillary, aegis, augur, avocation, betoken, blase, bode, canon, cavort and 79 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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Tolland's list
Those I've come across and try to keep fresh within my mind.
clandestine, dysphoric, indictive, vigil, fractious, assiduous, indefatigable, ubiquitous, insidious, paroicous, aplomb, sangfroid and 654 more...
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Collage's Words
subtle, calamity, impale, qat, painterly, piebald, surly, nihilistic, repine, slake, larder, sepulchre and 349 more...
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verbs
deprecate, behold, bemoan, circumscribe, circumspect, pivot, discombobulate, rummage, chasten, chastise, undulate, snog and 122 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for chasten.

bilby Belligerent fruit of the Lord of Astray, go to hell! Apr 6, 2011
Kristianto2010 No chastening seems to be joyful for the present . . . ; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. — Hebrews 12:11
Apr 6, 2011