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First things first: do not confuse upbraid with topknot lest you be upbraided for it. Topknot is a noun referring to a hairstyle, while upbraid is a verb (and an ancient one at that) meaning “to criticize or scold severely.” However, it may soothe your pride to know that the braid in upbraid likely comes from the same source as our hirsutal verb braid, meaning “to do up (the hair) by interweaving three or more strands.” That source is the Old English word bregdan, which could be used to mean “to snatch,” “to move suddenly,” or “to plait,” i.e. “braid.” The Old English verb ūpbregdan is probably a combination of this bregdan with ūp, meaning “up.” If the connection between moving suddenly upward at someone and berating them seems obscure, you might consider upbraid to be a more formal counterpart of the expression “to get/be in someone’s face.”
Examples of upbraid in a Sentence
Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 21 Oct. 2025
Soon there was an altercation at the front desk, when a Haitian upbraided the American peons about not getting her free stuff fast enough.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 8 Oct. 2025
Schumer is the latest Democrat on Capitol Hill to upbraid Kennedy in recent days over the measles outbreak.
—Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today, 13 July 2025
The stupidity of his denigration of the COVID vaccines — there’s that word again — brought him a joint upbraiding by the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2023.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for upbraid
Cite this Entry
“Upbraid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/upbraid. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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upbraid
verb
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