dressing down
1
6.1
- noun
- Informal
:
reprimenda
- Rolling Stone reports that that day, FX and Hulu are premiering malfunction, the dressing down of Janet Jackson.
- give her a dressing down
And I was, I was told to meet the managing editor for a kind of dressing down.
- And I was, I was told to meet the managing editor for a kind of dressing down.
Examples
-
But I don't think I deserved that thorough dressing down from you.
Blog text (7) -
She received a dressing down from her teacher for not completing her homework on time.
-
The dressing down from your boss?
-
As Mary got wilder, the old bitch decided to give me a dressing down.
-
Finally, because of Scott Randall's arrogance and grandstanding, Braun herself had just been squeezed and humiliatingly dressed down by the mayor.
Fiction book (1999) -
To his credit, Pope Pius XI was so shocked by del Val's assertion that he summoned him for a dressing-down.
Academic text (2010) -
Pratt, still smarting from her dressing down by the mayor, was inclined to dismiss the rumor, but Randall needed her support to move ahead, and he wasn't going to let it go.
Fiction book (1999) -
After his repeated mistakes, the manager gave him a serious dressing down in front of the entire team.
-
During the meeting, the director delivered a harsh dressing down to the staff about their poor performance.
Synonyms
24
6.1
A formal complaint from someone in charge about bad behaviour
7
3.3
A strong angry talk that tells someone they did something wrong
5
6.5
A strong angry talk that tells someone they did wrong
4
7.0
A firm warning that tells someone to change their behavior
3
7.2
A strong spoken scolding for a mistake
1
6.3
A strong angry talk that tells someone they did something wrong
1
7.2
A talk that tells someone they did something wrong, often angrily
1
9.0
Severe criticism or punishment using harsh words
1
7.7
A strong angry talk that tells someone they did something wrong
1
8.5
A harsh telling off given for a serious mistake
1
7.4
A strong scolding you get for doing something wrong
1
7.0
A severe scolding for doing something wrong
1
9.9
A strong private scolding for someone who did something wrong
1
8.8
A strong scolding you get when someone is angry with you
A loud, angry talk that tells someone they made a mistake
Antonyms
How Severe
Surface Forms
Morphology
dressing + down
The sense 'a severe reprimand' cannot be reliably derived from the literal constituents 'dressing' (clothing/attire) and 'down' (direction/reduction); the verb phrase 'to dress down' is idiomatic in the sense of scolding and the noun is a nominalization of that idiom. A B1 learner who only knows the literal meanings would unlikely predict this specialized, language-specific meaning, so the item is opaque.
Etymology
Dressing down may come from old military punishments where a soldier had his fine dress, meaning his uniform and badges, taken away and was forced to wear plain clothes and stand humiliated in front of others. That's why to get a dressing down now means 'a severe reprimand or scolding'.