chide

To tell someone off gently.

chide in a sentence

'Slow down,' Gran would chide whenever we gobbled our dinner.
'You'll catch cold,' the lifeguard would chide gently whenever swimmers stayed in too long.

Verbal reasoning papers often ask about a word like this.

Which word is closest in meaning to chide?

Show the answer

C: scold. The other three mean the opposite of chide.

scold

praise, compliment

chortle: To laugh in a happy, gleeful way.
clamour: A loud noise made by lots of people shouting at once.
clatter: A loud rattling noise of hard things banging together.
coax: To gently persuade someone to do something.
commotion: A sudden burst of noisy confusion.
concise: Saying what you need to say in only a few words.
condemn: To say strongly that something is wrong or bad.
confer: To give someone an award, title or honour, or to talk something over with others.

Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test