Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To rebuke or scold angrily and at length. synonym: scold.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To chide vehemently; scold.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To rate or chide vehemently; to scold.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To chide or scold vehemently; to lecture or rate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb censure severely or angrily

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[be– + rate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From be- +‎ rate (“to scold, upbraid”), from Middle English raten ("to scold, chide"), from Old Norse hrata ("to refuse, reject, slight, find fault with"), from Proto-Germanic *hratjanan, *hratōnan (“to sway, shake”), from Proto-Indo-European *krad- (“to swing”). Cognate with Swedish rata ("to reject, refuse, find fault, slight"), Norwegian rata ("to reject, cast aside"), Old English hratian ("to rush, hasten").

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Examples

  • And I couldn't wait to say that it could be misconstrued as a hatred for someone who they want to berate, which is tantamount to character assassination, because of race, culture and the color of their skin.

    In Defense of Manny Pacquiao 2009

  • And I couldn't wait to say that it could be misconstrued as a hatred for someone who they want to berate, which is tantamount to character assassination, because of race, culture and the color of their skin.

    In Defense of Manny Pacquiao 2009

  • After Allen went to the bathroom, Mayo continued to "berate" his teammate and

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2011

  • Jeff Probst and Julie Berry broke up; Richard Hatch smuggled matches in his ass Megan Parris says Bachelor producers "berate," "curse at" contestants Vincent Pastore needed a cane to walk after Dancing with the Stars training Chris Sligh leaves as Ryan Seacrest turns Idol into the Sanjaya show Bravo plans multiple new editions of its Real Housewives "franchise" hear or see me in the media

    reality blurred Andy Dehnart 2010

  • Now Waxman is going to browbeat and berate them for it on national TV, as if they had done something wrong, because these earlier “nudges” conflict with the PR of the Health Care Deform.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » More on Behavioral Economics and Regulatory Policy: 2010

  • - Authors who pitch their book as a Guaranteed Insta-Bestseller, or berate the slush-reader for “missing out on a golden opportunity” if they dare to send a rejection letter

    Interview: Lindsay Ribar « 2009

  • A bike doesn't constantly berate you over every single thing you do.

    The Riddle of Steel Jason W. Stuart 2011

  • - Authors who pitch their book as a Guaranteed Insta-Bestseller, or berate the slush-reader for “missing out on a golden opportunity” if they dare to send a rejection letter

    2009 November « 2009

  • Waxman can berate them for it all he wants, they can go up there and say with a straight face that their lawyers absolutely said they must do so and that Waxman is free to provide them with a contrary legal opinion if he likes.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » More on Behavioral Economics and Regulatory Policy: 2010

  • Now Waxman is going to browbeat and berate them for it on national TV, as if they had done something wrong, because these earlier “nudges” conflict with the PR of the Health Care Deform.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » More on Behavioral Economics and Regulatory Policy: 2010

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