dress down — criticize
phrasal verbB2IELTS 6+informaloccasional
to speak angrily to someone because they have done something wrong; to scold or reprimand.
Say it like a native
Textbook The manager reprimanded him severely in front of everyone.
Native The boss dressed him down in front of everyone.
'Dress down' (or 'give a dressing-down') is the idiom for a sharp telling-off; 'reprimanded severely' is HR minutes.
Pattern: dress someone down (for something)
In use
- The manager dressed him down for being late again.work
- If an employee makes a serious mistake, their boss might dress them down to make sure it doesn't happen again.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ The coach dressed down to the players.
✓ The coach dressed down the players. / dressed the players down.
'Dress down' takes the person directly — no 'to'.
Common collocations
dress + person + down— dressed him down, in public, a dressing-down, the team
Don't confuse it
Not related to clothes in this sense; it's about telling someone off.
Related
- dress down (wear casual clothes) — Another meaning of 'dress down' is 'wear casual clothes'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.