| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| admonish |
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| SYLLABICATION: | ad·mon·ish |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   d-m n  sh |
| TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: ad·mon·ished, ad·mon·ish·ing, ad·mon·ish·es
1. To reprove gently but earnestly. 2. To counsel (another) against something to be avoided; caution. 3. To remind of something forgotten or disregarded, as an obligation or a responsibility. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English amonishen, admonishen, alteration of amonesten, from Old French amonester, admonester, from Vulgar Latin *admonest re, from Latin admon re : ad-, ad- + monre, to warn; see men-1 in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | ad·monish·er —NOUN
ad·monish·ing·ly —ADVERB
ad·monish·ment —NOUN
| | SYNONYMS: | admonish, reprove, rebuke, reprimand, reproach These verbs mean to correct or caution critically. Admonish implies the giving of advice or a warning in order to rectify or avoid something: “A gallows erected on an eminence admonished the offenders of the fate that awaited them” (William Hickling Prescott). Reprove usually suggests gentle criticism and constructive intent: With a quick look, the teacher reproved the child for whispering in class. Rebuke and reprimand both refer to sharp, often angry criticism: “Some of the most heated criticism . . . has come from the Justice Department, which rarely rebukes other agencies in public” (Howard Kurtz). “A committee at [the university] asked its president to reprimand a scientist who tested gene-altered bacteria on trees” (New York Times). Reproach usually refers to regretful or unhappy criticism arising from a sense of disappointment: “Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach” (Samuel Johnson, Preface to the Dictionary)
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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