admonish

American  

[ad-mon-ish] / ædˈmɒn ɪʃ /

verb (used with object)

• admonishes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• admonished,
  past participle,  past
• admonishing
  present participle

1. 

   to caution, advise, or counsel against something.

2. to reprove or scold, especially in a mild and good-willed manner.

   The teacher admonished him about excessive noise.

   Synonyms:

   upbraid, censure, rebuke

3. to urge to a duty; remind.

   to admonish them about their obligations.

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admonish British  

/ ədˈmɒnɪʃ /

verb

1. to reprove firmly but not harshly

2. to advise to do or against doing something; warn; caution

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Synonym Usage

See warn. See reprimand.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• admonisher
  noun
• admonishment
  noun
• admonition
  noun
• preadmonish
  verb (used with object)
• admonitory
  adjective
• admonishingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• admonishing
  present
• admonished
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• admonish
  simple
• admonishes
  simple
• have admonished
  perfect
• has admonished
  perfect
• am admonishing
  progressive
• are admonishing
  progressive
• is admonishing
  progressive
• have been admonishing
  perfect progressive
• has been admonishing
  perfect progressive

Past

• admonished
  simple
• had admonished
  perfect
• was admonishing
  progressive
• were admonishing
  progressive
• had been admonishing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will admonish
  simple
• will have admonished
  perfect
• will be admonishing
  progressive
• will have been admonishing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of admonish

First recorded in 1275–1325; late Middle English admonish, amonesche, admonesse, amoness, Middle English a(d)monest (with -t later taken as past participle suffix), from Anglo-French, Old French amonester, from Vulgar Latin admonestāre (unrecorded), apparently derivative of Latin admonēre “to remind, give advice to” (source of -est- is uncertain), equivalent to ad- ad- ( def. ) + monēre “to remind, warn”; cf. monitor ( def. )

Explanation

To admonish is to scold. If you want to show someone you're not happy with his behavior, admonish him. Coming to English through Old French from the Latin admonere, "to advise, remind," admonish is always used with an eye on improving someone's behavior. The exact meaning of this formal verb varies in intensity depending generally on who is being corrected. If a child or subordinate is being admonished, it means "scold" or "rebuke" whereas if someone admonishes a person with equal standing, warn or advise are closer synonyms.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

admonish admonishes admonished admonishing

The home-plate umpire paused the game to admonish Santana for coming set before Caballero was looking at him, a transgression that could result in an automatic ball being added to the count.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

"We stayed to guard our soil," her daughter Najat al-Nour, a Quran professor in her fifties who lifted her chin high to admonish those who left.

From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026

Savage went on to empower our community to admonish naysayers of queer party-going, community enrichment, and quality time — however we choose to define those terms.

From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2025

“Instead, we felt it was beneficial to just admonish ‘Pickles’ for running from officers!”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2024

“You are docile today. Did your sister admonish you? She desires our approval very much.”

From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black

“NEVER attempt to remove a crab from its sea shell,” the sheet admonishes.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025

“Shame on you, Tiffany,” she admonishes herself now.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2024

The league sometimes admits mistakes and admonishes referees.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 11, 2023

Here she admonishes women of means who struggle to breastfeed.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 2, 2023

Their mother admonishes that the content of said tales may not be entirely appropriate for a pair of just barely thirteen-year-olds, but Mme.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Yitzhak Rabin admonished his country to “fight terrorism as if there’s no peace process, and work to achieve peace as if there’s no terror.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

The court admonished the government and ordered it to pay legal expenses to the information commissioner.

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

Or, as Patchett’s mother once admonished after the failure of her daughter’s first marriage: “Stop trying to make everything permanent. It doesn’t work.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026

They did hear testimony from an anti–death penalty lawyer who was admonished for testing DNA on a water bottle without the person’s permission.

From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2026

When Mom saw Quentin, she admonished me for being heartless and cruel to the poor boy.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Robert Mueller, who ran the FBI from 2001 to 2013, was known to adhere to Hoover’s G-man dress code of white shirts and dark suits, admonishing agents who wore something more colorful.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026

But Cronin wasn’t done, later admonishing a reporter for what he considered a dumb question, then scolding the reporter for allegedly raising his voice at him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2026

"BASIL!" - the unmistakable sound of Sybil Fawlty admonishing her pompous and incompetent husband, is probably how Prunella Scales will best be remembered.

From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025

But she also wagged an admonishing finger as she complained of continuing captivity and the Israeli government’s failure to act to free her and the others.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2024

Redemption continued to stare at Pet and raised an admonishing finger at her without bothering to turn around.

From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi

Related Words

• berate
• castigate
• censure
• chide
• rebuke
• reprimand
• upbraid