English

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Etymology

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From be- +‎ rate (to scold, upbraid).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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berate (third-person singular simple present berates, present participle berating, simple past and past participle berated)

  1. (transitive) To chide or scold vehemently.
    What society tells people that they can “do whatever they want” to dissidents, and yet berates anyone for treating them well?
    • 1896, Gilbert Parker, chapter 13, in Seats Of The Mighty:
      Gabord, still muttering, turned to us again, and began to berate the soldiers for their laziness.
    • 1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 21, in The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1918 September, →OCLC, pages 327–328:
      A thousand times I berated myself for being drawn into such a trap as I might have known these pits easily could be.
    • 1917, Jack London, chapter 14, in Jerry of the Islands:
      Lenerengo, as usual, forgot everything else in the fiercer pleasure of berating her spouse.
    • 2008 November 27, Alex Perry, “The Man Who Would Be (Congo's) King”, in Time:
      During the rally, he berates the crowd for their cowardice.
    • 2011, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France[1]:
      France were supposedly a team in pieces, beaten by Tonga just a week ago and with coach Marc Lievremont publicly berating his players, but so clear-cut was their victory that much of the atmosphere had been sucked from the contest long before the end.

Synonyms

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German

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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berate

  1. inflection of beraten:
    1. first-person singular present
    2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
    3. singular imperative