admonish
verb
Simple meaning
To advise against wrongdoing.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
admahnishSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ædˈmɑnɪʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitivewith of or against
To advise against wrongdoing; to caution; to warn against danger or an offense.
transitive
To inform or notify of a fault; to rebuke in a serious tone; to tell off.
transitive
To instruct or direct.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (transitive, with of or against) To advise against wrongdoing; to caution; to warn against danger or an offense.
Used this way, admonish is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use admonish
- “He admonished the child for his bad behavior.”verb
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to advise against wrongdoing
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.