Search the Dictionary

Implying censure. [Obs.] "What man does not resent an ugly reflexive word" South.

or preventing; to make charge of fault against; to disapprove of; to chide; to blame; to censure. Chaucer. Aristippus being reprehended of luxury by one that was not rich, for that he gave six crowns for a small fish. Bacon. Pardon me for reprehending thee. Shak. In which satire human vices, ignorance, and errors . . .…

Reproof; censure; blame; disapproval. This Basilius took as though his mistress had given him a secret reprehension that he had not showed more gratefulness to Dorus. Sir P. Sidney.

attribute blame to; to allege something disgracefull against; to charge with a fault; to censure severely or contemptuously; to upbraid. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ. 1 Peter iv. 14. That this newcomer, Shame, There sit not, and reproach us as unclean. Milton. Mezentius . . . with his ardor warmed His fai…

The act of reprobating; the state of being reprobated; strong disapproval or censure. The profligate pretenses upon which he was perpetually soliciting an increase of his disgraceful stipend are mentioned with becoming reprobation. Jeffrey. Set a brand of reprobation on clipped poetry and false coin. Dryden.…

An expression of blame or censure; especially, blame expressed to the face; censure for a fault; chiding; reproach. Those best can bear reproof who merit praise. Pope.

Worthy of reproof or censure. Jer. Taylor.

To chide to the face as blameworthy; to accuse as guilty; to censure. What if thy son Prove disobedient, and, reproved, retort, "Wherefore didst thou beget me" Milton.

To return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility; as, to retort the charge of vanity. And with retorted scorn his back he turned. Milton.

To make the object of satire; to attack with satire; to censure with keenness or severe sarcasm. It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices, as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues. Swift.

Reproachful aspersion; opprobrious censure; defamatory talk, uttered heedlessly or maliciously. You must not put another scandal on him. Shak. My known virtue is from scandal free. Dryden.

The act of reproaching one's self; censure by one's own conscience.

The act of reproving one's self; censure of one's conduct by one's own judgment.

Not much; a little; moderate; as, the censure was to some extent just.

A touch of adverse criticism; censure. [I have] given myself the liberty of these strictures by way of reflection on all and every passage. Hammond.

That to which one resorts for escape or concealment; an artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument, or to justify opinions or conduct; a shift; an evasion. Affect not little shifts and subterfuges, to avoid the force of an argument. I. Watts. By a miserable subterfuge, they hope to render this posi…

To judge; to censure. [Obs.]

. vi. 25, 27. -- To take to heart. See under Heart. -- To take to task, to reprove; to censure. -- to take to the air, to take off. To take up. (a) To lift; to raise. Hood. (b) To buy or borrow; as, to take up goods to a large amount; to take up money at the bank. (c) To begin; as, to take up a lamentation. Ezek. xi…

Charge; censure. [Obs.] Clarendon.

eral's ear. Dryden. An archdeacon, as being a prelate, may thunder out an ecclesiastical censure. Ayliffe.