Admonish
verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To inform or notify of a fault; to rebuke in a serious tone; to tell off. transitive
"Better is a poore and a wise child, then an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished."
- 2 take to task wordnet
- 3 To advise against wrongdoing; to caution; to warn against danger or an offense. transitive
"“You needn’t stray off too far in doin’ it,” his partner admonished. “If that pack ever starts to jump you, them three cartridges’d be wuth no more’n three whoops in hell. Them animals is damn hungry, an’ once they start in, they’ll sure get you, Bill.”"
- 4 advise or counsel in terms of someone's behavior wordnet
- 5 To instruct or direct. transitive
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- 6 warn strongly; put on guard wordnet
Example
More examples"No words were able to admonish him."
Etymology
From Middle English admonesten, admonissen, from Old French amonester (modern French admonester), from an unattested Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *admonestrāre, from Latin admoneō (“remind, warn”), from ad + moneō (“warn, advise”). See premonition.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.