The word for today is…

berate (verb) –

to scold or condemn vehemently and at length

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : Berate and rate can both mean “to scold angrily or violently.” This sense of rate was first recorded in the 14th century, roughly two centuries before the now more familiar (and etymologically unrelated) rate meaning “to estimate the value of.” We know that berate was probably formed by combining be and the older rate, but the origins of this particular rate itself are somewhat more obscure. We can trace the word back to the Middle English form raten, but beyond that things get a little murky. It’s possible that rate, and by extension berate, derives from the same ancient word that led to the Swedish rata (meaning “to find blame, despise”) and earlier the Old Norse hrata (“to fall, stagger”), but this is uncertain.

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David is a retired surgeon originally from London who came to New Zealand twenty-seven years ago after being delayed in Singapore for thirteen years on leaving the UK. He was coerced into studying Latin...