to read the riot act
1
7.9
- idiom
- Informal
:
dar un toque de atención
- After the students broke the rules, the principal read the riot act and warned them of possible detention.
- get read the riot act
And I'm like reading the riot act to the left this week and I'm thrilled about it.
- And I'm like reading the riot act to the left this week and I'm thrilled about it.
Examples
-
When Tom refused to follow instructions, his supervisor read the riot act to him about the consequences of his actions.
-
I gotta go down and read the riot act to them.
-
Read the riot act, will you?
-
And I'm like reading the riot act to the left this week and I'm thrilled about it.
-
And then the lawyers read the riot act: the liability consequences, the different rules that apply in each state and in each province.
Blog text (18) -
I've just been read the riot act by our friend from naval intelligence.
-
Similarly, watchdog groups like NGO Monitor have read the riot act even to Palestinian NGOs, notorious for their anti-Israel advocacy brand of "human rights" defense.
Blog text (31) -
The manager had to read the riot act to the team after their repeated tardiness.
Synonyms
139
4.2
Punish someone so they learn not to do it again
65
7.7
To scold or punish someone to improve their behavior
55
2.2
Speak angrily to someone who has done something wrong
37
8.1
To scold someone very strongly for something they did
33
6.1
To tell someone they did something wrong, usually by a person in charge
31
6.8
To tell someone firmly to change or improve their behavior
26
6.9
To tell someone firmly that you do not approve of their actions
13
4.2
To speak angrily to someone for doing something wrong
11
8.1
To angrily tell someone off
7
8.9
To speak angrily to someone for a long time
5
8.3
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
3
7.9
To tell someone strongly that they have done something wrong, often in front of others
3
6.3
To angrily tell someone they did something wrong
2
9.9
To scold someone angrily
1
8.7
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
1
8.6
To scold someone very strongly for a mistake
1
6.8
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
Scold a person in front of others for a mistake
To yell at or threaten someone to make them try harder
To scold someone angrily for something they did
To make people work together by firmly telling them to stop arguing
Scold someone very strongly, often in front of others
To scold someone strongly for doing something wrong
To punish or scold someone strongly for making a mistake
To angrily tell someone they did something wrong, often in front of others
Antonyms
How Stern
36
7.2
- Informal
1
7.9
- Formal
33
6.1
55
2.2
∞
1.0
414
2.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase historically refers to reading the Riot Act (a statute) as a formal warning, so its current meaning 'to sternly reprimand or warn' is not directly predictable from the literal senses of 'read' + 'the' + 'riot' + 'act'. A B1 learner who knows the individual words would likely interpret a literal action (reading a law about riots) and not derive the idiomatic sense without prior exposure or cultural/historical knowledge, making it an opaque idiom.
Etymology
Read the riot act comes from an old British law called the 'Riot Act'. When crowds were noisy, an official would literally read the Riot Act to tell them to 'leave' or be arrested, so today the phrase means to give someone a very strong warning or stern scolding.