Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Reproachful \Re*proach"ful\ (-f?l), a.
-
Expressing or containing reproach; upbraiding; opprobrious; abusive.
The reproachful speeches . . . That he hath breathed in my dishonor here.
--Shak. -
Occasioning or deserving reproach; shameful; base; as, a reproachful life.
Syn: Opprobrious; contumelious; abusive; offensive; insulting; contemptuous; scornful; insolent; scurrilous; disreputable; discreditable; dishonorable; shameful; disgraceful; scandalous; base; vile; infamous. [1913 Webster] -- Re*proach"ful*ly (r?-pr?ch"f?l-l?), adv. -- Re*proach"ful*ness, n.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1540s, "expressing reproach," also "worthy of reproach," from reproach + -ful. Related: Reproachfully; reproachfulness.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Expressing or containing reproach; upbraiding; opprobrious; abusive. 2 Occasioning or deserving reproach; shameful; base; as, a reproachful life.
WordNet
adj. expressing reproof or reproach especially as a corrective [syn: admonitory, admonishing, reproving]
Usage examples of "reproachful".
But her last forlorn glance down from the head of the ramp had been of Gold Ambon standing there in the middle of the black-and-white diamonds of the rotunda, looking up at her with miserable reproachful eyes.
The brandy came, and Mister Gosling, with a reproachful look at Barnacle, poured it over his bleeding arm.
Miss Margland was preparing him a reproachful reception, but was so much offended by the fishy smell which he brought into the room, that she had immediate recourse to her salts, and besought him to stand out of her way.
The reproachful melancholy of her voice touched the Bravo, who kissed the hand he held with Italian fervor.
Louise, the wife of the Wild Margrave, and more than once it had welcomed her next neighbor and sister Wilhelmina, the Margravine of Baireuth, whose autobiographic voice, piercingly plaintive and reproachful, seemed to quiver in the air.
She cast a reproachful glance at Melia, who defended herself with spirit.
His eyes opened wide with astonishment, he gave Sharpe a puzzled, almost reproachful look, then slowly toppled backwards into one of the foetid puddles.
Silently, in a dream she had come to him after her death, her wasted body within its loose brown graveclothes giving off an odour of wax and rosewood, her breath, that had bent upon him, mute, reproachful, a faint odour of wetted ashes.
Donal was standing, arms folded, atop the outwall, but as Allart hurried toward him, someone spoke in a low, reproachful voice.
Superintendent Bell came in, and gave Reggie a solemn, reproachful salutation.
Year after year, if I got downpours right, I winced over sackloads of letters from reproachful children who reckoned their disappointment to be my fault.
Presently I noticed he wore the reproachful expression of a chastened puppy.
He would come back with most reproachful eyes for Clementina in that she so stubbornly clung to her vagabond exile and refused so fine a match as the Prince of Baden.
He knew very well that Captain Aubrey disliked starting with a rope's end or a cane, kicking, cobbing, and even reproachful words such as 'lubber' or 'damn your infernal limbs' unless they were uttered by himself.
Several easels stood waiting in one corner, and the two at the end of the room, backs to the railing that separated the studio from the living room below, seemed slightly reproachful under their stained canvas drapes.