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View synonyms for read the riot act

read the riot act

  1. To chastise loudly, or to issue a severe warning: “After the students stormed the administration building, the president of the university came out and read them the riot act.” In England , unruly crowds that did not disperse after the Riot Act was read to them became subject to the force of the law.


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Idioms and Phrases

Warn or reprimand forcefully or severely, as in When he was caught throwing stones at the windows, the principal read him the riot act . This term alludes to an actual British law, the Riot Act of 1714, which required reading a proclamation so as to disperse a crowd; those who did not obey within an hour were guilty of a felony. [First half of 1800s]

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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.

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