Synonyms for chastise
Synonyms by meaning
Verb
1. Castigate — to castigate; to scold or censure
castigate formal, chide, admonish, scold, berate, rebuke, reprimand, reprove, censure, scourge, beat, whip, lash, lecture, objurgate, rate, upbraid, reprehend, criticize UK US, criticise UK, condemn, denounce, lambast UK, lamblast US
2. Punish — to punish, especially by corporal punishment
punish, correct, penalize, penalise UK, discipline, come down on, chasten dated, malavogue informal dated IE
Definitions
- v. 1
To punish, especially by corporal punishment.
- v. 2
To castigate; to scold or censure.
Related words
- Word family
- chastisable chastisement
Forms
- Past participle
- chastised
e.g. chastised → castigated, chid, admonished, scolded…
Choose the right word
Castigate and chastise refer strictly to corporal punishment, tho both are somewhat archaic; correct and punish are often used as euphemisms in preference to either. Punish is distinctly retributive in sense; chastise, partly retributive, and partly corrective; chasten, wholly corrective.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- scold I cannot scold Taninna. She's still a little girl.
- berate If you berate me like that again, I will quit.
- admonish No words were able to admonish him.
- punish People punish petty thieves but love big thieves.
- penalize Algeria shouldn't penalize its poorest categories.
By length
- 4 letters
- rate1, beat1, whip1, lash1
- 5 letters
- scold1, chide1
- 6 letters
- punish2, rebuke2, berate2
- 7 letters
- correct2, lecture2, condemn2, scourge1, censure2, reprove, lambast, chasten2, upbraid2
- 8 letters
- denounce2, penalize3, admonish3, penalise, lamblast
- 9 letters
- criticize3, criticise, reprimand3, castigate3, reprehend, objurgate, malavogue
- 10 letters
- discipline3
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (punish2 = 2 syllables).