The Collaborative International Dictionary
Reprehend \Rep`re*hend"\ (r?p`r?-h?nd"), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
Reprehended; p. pr. & vb. n. Reprehending.] [L.
reprehendere, reprehensum, to hold back, seize, check, blame;
pref. re- re- + prehendere to lay hold of. See Prehensile,
and cf. Reprisal. ]
To reprove or reprimand with a view of restraining, checking,
or preventing; to make charge of fault against; to disapprove
of; to chide; to blame; to censure.
--Chaucer.
Aristippus being reprehended of luxury by one that was
not rich, for that he gave six crowns for a small fish.
--Bacon.
Pardon me for reprehending thee.
--Shak.
In which satire human vices, ignorance, and errors . .
. are severely reprehended.
--Dryden.
I nor advise nor reprehend the choice.
--J. Philips.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-14c., from Latin reprehendere "blame, censure, rebuke; seize, restrain," literally "pull back, hold back," from re- "back" (see re-) + prehendere "to grasp, seize" (see prehensile).
Wiktionary
vb. to criticize, to reprove
WordNet
v. express strong disapproval of
Usage examples of "reprehend".
I wonder he has patience to humour you so: if I was he, I know, I should often be ready to reprehend you, and make you know yourself a little better.
I mind how my worthy father would reprehend me when I quoted Plato or Seneca.
Our best economists reprehend the policy of depleting our labor-market.
This unwonted interruption of the ceremonies clouded many a brow, for the sensibilities of a Venetian noble were quick, indeed, to reprehend the immorality of political discontent, though the conventional dignity of the class suppressed all other ill-timed exhibition of dissatisfaction.
Isaiah all our righteousness is as filthy rags, who shall presume to boast himself of the perfection of any virtue, or deny that from some circumstance a thing may deserve to be reprehended, which in itself perhaps was not reprehensible.
Sir Willoughby severely reprehended his short-sightedness for seeing but the one proximate object in the particular attention he had bestowed on Miss Dale.
Going beyond this topic, he examined and reprehended the habit of applying to the interpretation of our own constitution maxims derived from the practice of other governments, particularly that of Great Britain.
And, as I ran, I reflected that Daila could not rightly be reprehended for his mistaken assumption.
Now it became evident to me that those religions, though frowned upon by the state and violently reprehended by the Christian clerics, were not by any means dead or moribund or neglected.
Above all things to be reprehended is the burning of the dead: they should be interred without burning.
Saville reasoned, reproached, reprehended, without any avail, except that when her violence had passed its crisis, she repented, and wept, and besought forgiveness.
While Serafina and Madam Clement caressed the amiable Charlotte, the rest of the company congratulated her admirer upon his choice and success, though the clergyman could not help reprehending him for profaning the sacerdotal habit.
This the curious Gul did clatter in the ears of Venus, reprehending her son.
Nevertheless the vicar was fearless in reprehending it, and his frank exhortations were, at least, listened to on account of the simple honesty of the man, and his well-known kindness of heart.
R arrogated to himself the right of reprehending every one, who differed from him.