How do you use the word "scold" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "scold": If I scold you, it is not that I am angry. If I scold you, it is that I want you to improve.

Scold Meaning

/ˈskəʊ̯ld/

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA person who habitually scolds, in particular a troublesome and angry woman.

verbTo rebuke angrily.

Sentence Examples

If I scold you, it is not that I am angry.

If I scold you, it is that I want you to improve.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

rag lecture grumble

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The teacher will ____ the students today in class for not doing their homework.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The teacher had to ____ the students for talking during the examination.

Word Origin & History

The noun is from Middle English scold(e), skald(e), first attested in the 12th or 13th century (as scold, scolde, skolde, skald). The verb is from Middle English scolden, first attested in the late 1300s. Most dictionaries derive the verb from the noun and say the noun is probably from Old Norse skald (“poet”) (cognate with Icelandic skáld (“poet, scop”)), as skalds sometimes wrote insulting poems, though another view is that the Norse and English words are cognate to each other and to Old High German skeltan (whence Modern German schelten (“to scold, chide”)), Old Dutch skeldan (whence Modern Dutch schelden (“to scold, berate”)), all inherited from Proto-Germanic *skeldaną (“scold”).

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Near the pond was the ducking-stool where many a village scold had her tongue temporarily stilled." — 1980, Robert Dougall, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 379:

"Consider the contrast with the United States, where deficit scolds dominated Beltway discourse in 2010–2011 but never managed to dictate the terms of political debate […]" — 2015 September 14, Paul Krugman, “Labour's dead centre [print version: International New York Times, 15 September 2015, p. 9]”, in The New York Times:

"A week elapsed before she could see Elizabeth without scolding her —" — 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

"Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes." — 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

"[T]he merry songsters of the wood now filled the air with their jubilee; the nutcracker began his monotonous clattering, the chaffinches and the wrens sang high in the sky, the blackcock scolded and blustered loudly, the thrush sang his mocking songs and libellous ditties about everybody, but became occasionally a little sentimental and warbled gently and bashfully some tender stanzas." — 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 89:

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