bawl out

verb

bawled out; bawling out; bawls out

transitive verb

: to reprimand loudly or severely

Her boss bawled her out for forgetting the meeting.

Synonyms

• baste
• berate
• call down
• castigate
• chastise
• chew out
• dress down
• flay
• hammer
• jaw
• keelhaul
• lambaste
• lambast
• lecture
• rag
• rail (at or against)
• rant (at)
• rate
• ream (out)
• rebuke
• reprimand
• reproach
• scold
• score
• tongue-lash
• upbraid

Examples of bawl out in a Sentence

got bawled out by the boss for missing another important deadline

Recent Examples on the Web

Women stopped to bawl out the police, who accepted this dressing-down with quiet embarrassment. —National Geographic, 11 Aug. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1899, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

bawl out

verb

: to scold severely