to tell off
13
4.2
- phrasal verb
- /tɛl ɔf/
- Informal
:
regañar
- You should have told her off.
- get told off
- tell off the guy
- tell people off
And he doesn't dare report it because he's thinks, well, I'll probably get told off if I report this.
- And he doesn't dare report it because he's thinks, well, I'll probably get told off if I report this.
- Don't think you're going to vent and tell them off and feel better, because that's not how it works with them.
- And I had to tell Grace off because she admitted that she looks for hate online.
- I feel like I'm, I feel like I'm turning up to the head teacher's office knowing I'm about to get told off.
- And so, you know, the fact that no one turned up for training and you know, I went for a piss and got told off for it.
- Edit I agree I shouldn't have told the guy off it all happened so quick.
- And she's has no regard as long as it what it is, what I see her doing where she's not had any chastisation at being told off.
- Every day you get up and you come to work here and you've got me whom you can tell the fuck off anytime you want at will.
Examples
-
And then I told him off.
-
Why are you telling me off?
-
Well, I was just waiting for him to show up so I could tell him off.
Fiction book (2002) -
And I had to tell Grace off because she admitted that she looks for hate online.
-
Annoyed, she goes out her front door to tell her neighbors off.
Fiction book (1993) -
Sometimes you need to tell people off because for certain people, "niceness" doesn't work.
Blog text (33) -
We have a notoriously picky and temperamental client who routinely tells off our salesmen.
Blog text (4) -
Last month, Harvey told off reporters for asking inappropriate questions.
-
I'm so glad that I finally got to tell off my colleague for being rude to me.
-
My mother would tell us off whenever we misbehaved at home.
Synonyms
379
1.4
Shout in an angry voice at someone
55
2.2
Speak angrily to someone who has done something wrong
44
8.1
To tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
36
7.2
Scold someone angrily and severely
33
6.1
To tell someone they did something wrong, usually by a person in charge
26
6.9
To tell someone firmly that you do not approve of their actions
13
7.0
Scold someone angrily in front of others
7
8.9
To speak angrily to someone for a long time
5
8.3
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
1
8.7
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
1
7.9
To scold someone strongly and warn them of punishment
1
6.8
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
To tell someone they behaved badly in a serious way
Shout loudly at someone because they did something wrong
To scold someone angrily for something they did
To tell someone off angrily
Tell someone angrily that you are upset with them
Tell someone angrily that you are unhappy with them
To tell someone angrily that you do not like what they did
To speak to someone in a sudden angry way without good reason
Antonyms
How Harsh
36
7.2
55
2.2
- Informal
13
4.2
- Formal
33
6.1
31
6.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
tell + off
There is a partial clue from 'tell' (to speak to someone), so a learner might guess the phrase involves speaking to someone, but the particle 'off' does not transparently mean 'scold' and many phrasal verbs shift meaning unpredictably. The specific sense 'to reprimand/scold' cannot be reliably derived from the constituents without prior exposure, so the expression is only partially predictable.
Etymology
Tell off may come from a simple image: the word tell plus off, where off makes the telling feel strong or final, as if the words push someone away. So to tell off someone came to mean 'to scold' or speak angrily to them.