berate

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 *hratjaną, *hratōną (“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”).

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈɹeɪt/
• Rhymes: -eɪt

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

1. (transitive) to chide or scold vehemently
   • 1896, Gilbert Parker, Seats Of The Mighty, ch. 13:

     Gabord, still muttering, turned to us again, and began to berate the soldiers for their laziness.

   • 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Gods of Mars, ch. 21:

     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, Jerry of the Islands, ch. 14:

     Lenerengo, as usual, forgot everything else in the fiercer pleasure of berating her spouse.

   • 2008, Alex Perry, "The Man Who Would Be (Congo's) King," Time, 27 Nov.:

     During the rally, he berates the crowd for their cowardice.

   • 2011, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France

     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.

• See also Thesaurus:reprehend

• beration

• Bartee, beater, betear, erbate, rebate

berate

1. First-person singular present of beraten.
2. First-person singular subjunctive I of beraten.
3. Third-person singular subjunctive I of beraten.
4. Imperative singular of beraten.