Words / L / General

lambaste

verb/læmˈbeɪst/

C2CEFR level
60/100Rarity: rare
InformalRegister

To criticise or mock harshly and at length.

The satirist lambasted the whole cabinet in a single merciless sketch.

Similar: berate, excoriate, lampoon

Origin: From lam to beat + baste to thrash.

Topic: mockery in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: mockery