Word of the Day Archive
Thursday January 17, 2008
upbraid \uhp-BRAYD\ , transitive verb:
To scold or criticize harshly.
Afterwards, Grace roundly upbraided the boy for his boorishness.
-- Paul L. Mariani, The Broken Tower
That single incident is the only time I can remember my father upbraiding me for my dismal performance as a midshipman.
-- John McCain with Mark Salter, Faith of My Fathers
It could have been mistakenly concluded from this speech upbraiding bad landlords that G. H. Moore was against landlordism as a whole.
-- Adrian Frazier, George Moore, 1852-1933
Upbraid is from Middle English upbreiden, from Old English upbregdan, "to twist up, hence to reproach," from up-, "up" + bregdan, "to move back and forth; to weave."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for upbraid
