lambaste

WOTD – 14 June 2007    

English

Alternative forms

• lambast (UK)

Etymology

First attested in 1637. Probably lam (“beat”) +‎ baste (“beat”)

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /læmˈbæst/
• (US) IPA: /læmˈbæst/, /læmˈbeɪst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æst

Verb

lambaste (third-person singular simple present lambastes, present participle lambasting, simple past and past participle lambasted)

1. To scold, reprimand or criticize harshly.

   The sergeant lambasted the new recruits daily.

   Her first novel was well and truly lambasted by the critics.

   • 2013, Paul Harris, Lance Armstrong faces multi-million dollar legal challenges after confession (in The Guardian, 19 January 2013)[1]

     Indeed, part of the problem was that Armstrong was rowing back on so much previous behaviour and years of aggressive lambasting of reporters, officials and team-mates who had claimed he was doping. "I don't forgive Lance Armstrong, who lied to me in two interviews. And I suspect most of America won't, either," Kurtz wrote.

2. (dated) To give a thrashing to; to beat severely.

Synonyms

• (to give a thrashing to): beat, hit, thrash
• (to scold or verbally reprimand): berate, scold, tell off

Translations

to scold or verbally reprimand

• Dutch: berispen (nl), uitschelden (nl), afkraken (nl)
• Finnish: läksyttää (fi), haukkua (fi), ojentaa (fi)

• French: blamer (fr), reprimander (fr), gronder (fr)
• German: beschimpfen, zurechtweisen

to give a thrashing to

• Dutch: iemand aframmelen (nl), iemand een pandoering geven (nl)
• Finnish: pieksää, kurittaa

• French: tabbasser (fr), rouer de coups (fr),battre quelqu'un (fr)
• German: verdreschen, verprügeln

Anagrams

• blastema
• labmates