read (sb) the riot act
to speak angrily to someone about something they have done and warn that person that they will be punished if it happens again :
He'd put up with a lot of bad behaviour from his son and thought it was time to read him the riot act.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Chastising & rebuking
- admonition
- barracking
- bawl
- be in sb's face idiom
- beat yourself up
- bring
- come down on sb like a ton of bricks idiom
- dressing-down
- keelhaul
- lambaste
- lay
- neck
- rebuke
- reprimand
- reproachful
- there'll be hell to pay idiom
- throw
- throw the book at sb idiom
- tirade
- upbraid
See more results »