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Berate and Rate
People have berated things—and each other—for time immemorial, but the word berate has only been known to English users since the mid-1500s. Before that, if you wanted to angrily rebuke, say, an outlaw for impersonating a fortune teller in order to steal the golden hubcaps off your royal carriage, you would rate them. Berate simply added the prefix be- to the existing verb rate, which is distinct from the rate that means “to value or esteem.” While the more familiar rate comes ultimately from Latin, the origins of the less common “scolding” rate are obscure.
Examples of berate in a Sentence
Pan Pylas, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2025
His proposals require three constitutional amendments and the support of the Green Party – not an easy task, as the Greens are in no mood to please after Merz relentlessly berated them during his campaign.
—Raul Elizalde, Forbes, 12 Mar. 2025
At the Munich Security Conference in 2007, Putin berated the U.S. for interfering in the domestic politics of other countries in the service of its own ideas.
—Michael McFaul, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2025
During the meeting, Zelensky pressed the American leaders on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s history of breaking ceasefire agreements, and, in turn, Trump and Vance berated Zelensky and accused him of being ungrateful for U.S. support.
—Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill, 9 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for berate
Cite this Entry
“Berate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/berate. Accessed 23 Mar. 2025.
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berate
verb
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