earfulnoun
uk/ˈɪə.fʊl/us/ˈɪr.fʊl/informalgive sb an earful
to complain angrily to someone
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
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Examples from literature
- We were giving them an earful about it, and then they spring Lincoln on us.
- With that he gets back to his Reserve Army scheme and he sure does give me an earful.