admonish
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to reprove firmly but not harshly
-
to advise to do or against doing something; warn; caution
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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admonishernoun
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admonishmentnoun
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admonitionnoun
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preadmonishverb (used with object)
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admonitoryadjective
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admonishinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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admonishsimple
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admonishessimple
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have admonishedperfect
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has admonishedperfect
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am admonishingprogressive
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are admonishingprogressive
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is admonishingprogressive
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have been admonishingperfect progressive
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has been admonishingperfect progressive
Past
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admonishedsimple
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had admonishedperfect
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was admonishingprogressive
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were admonishingprogressive
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had been admonishingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing admonish
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
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
Antonelli complained again about Russell's driving on the slowing down lap and Wolff again came on the radio to admonish him: "Kimi, we talk about this privately, not on the radio."
From BBC ● May 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
Ratepayers routinely admonish state utility regulators for their high bills at public meetings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026
I shouldn’t put her off, I admonish myself.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
“NEVER attempt to remove a crab from its sea shell,” the sheet admonishes.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025
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
Sydney has brains and a relentless devotion to work, which feels revelatory considering the show never admonishes her for it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 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
Russell, too, was admonished by Wolff when he made a sarcastic comment about the location at which Antonelli had chosen to give back the lead after skipping the chicane.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
“We can never recapture the purchasing power of the dollar that has been lost,” the chairman admonished his colleagues in August 1955—even as the consumer-price index registered a rare, small year-over-year decline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 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
After he left, Jinjoo admonished her sister about talking too much.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
In the video, neighbors can be heard angrily admonishing police officers for killing the dog while the woman, identified as Marie Marseille, held the animal, crying.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
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
And on Sunday, he was admonishing himself for it.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2025
The network news closes with a thank you to visitors and with NBC’s Lester Holt admonishing us to take care of “yourselves and each other.”
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2025
Despite the admonishing words, Dr. Thatcher's voice was cheerful.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
