Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

give someone a speaking to

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.78 in modern English

Syllables
give -some-one a s-peak-ing -to
IPA
35
Scrabble Score
22
Letters
6
Syllables
12
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To scold a person.

Example Sentences

Inflected Forms

gives someone a speaking to (present, singular) giving someone a speaking to (participle, present) gave someone a speaking to (participle, past) gave someone a speaking to (past)

Synonyms

berate chastise scold admonish animadvert bash bawl out tilt cannonade slash lash blame

Questions

What does give someone a speaking to mean?
To scold a person.

How to pronounce give someone a speaking to

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “give someone a speaking to”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “give someone a speaking to”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “give someone a speaking to” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.