upbraid

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
12
Words With Friends
15
Letters
7
Pronunciation
/ˌʌpˈbɹeɪd/

Definition of upbraid

7 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (transitive)To criticize severely.
    “How much doth thy kindness upbraid my wickedness!”
    “Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:”
    “Indeed, on several occasions, the Bishop of Lincoln was forced to upbraid both abbess and nuns for unseemliness in dress and behaviour.”
    “Dalio had no qualms about upbraiding a junior employee in front of me and dozens of his colleagues.”
    “Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance upbraided the president of Ukraine in the Oval Office last Friday, then cut off military aid to the U.S. ally.”
See all 7 definitions

verb

  1. (transitive)To criticize severely.
    “How much doth thy kindness upbraid my wickedness!”
    “Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:”
    “Indeed, on several occasions, the Bishop of Lincoln was forced to upbraid both abbess and nuns for unseemliness in dress and behaviour.”
    “Dalio had no qualms about upbraiding a junior employee in front of me and dozens of his colleagues.”
    “Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance upbraided the president of Ukraine in the Oval Office last Friday, then cut off military aid to the U.S. ally.”
  2. (archaic, transitive)To charge with something wrong or disgraceful; to reproach
    “Yet do not upbraid us our distress.”
    “Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.”
  3. (obsolete)To treat with contempt.
    “There also was that mighty monarch laid, Low under all, yet above all in pride; That name of native fire did foul upbraid, And would, as Ammon's son, be magnify'd.”
  4. (obsolete)To object or urge as a matter of reproach
    “Those that have been bred together, are more apt to envy their equals when raised: for it doth upbraid unto them their own fortunes, and pointeth at them.”
  5. (archaic, intransitive)To utter upbraidings.
  6. (Northern-England, UK, archaic, dialectal)To vomit; retch.

noun

  1. (obsolete, uncountable)The act of reproaching; scorn; disdain.
    “He was ymet; who with uncomely Shame Gan him salute, and foul upbraid with faulty Blame.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English upbreyden, from Old English upbreġdan, equivalent to up- + braid. Compare English umbraid (“to upbraid”), Icelandic bregða (“to draw, brandish, braid, deviate from, change, break off, upbraid”). See up, and braid (transitive).

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