Word.ws English Dictionary

giving someone a speaking to

giving someone a speaking to is the present participle and gerund of give someone a speaking to.

Meaning of give someone a speaking to

Verb

give someone a speaking to (third-person singular simple present gives someone a speaking to, present participle giving someone a speaking to, simple past and past participle gave someone a speaking to)

  1. (idiomatic) To scold a person.
    • When she comes home I will certainly be giving her a speaking to about breaking curfew.

Questions about giving someone a speaking to

What is giving someone a speaking to the present participle and gerund of?
Giving someone a speaking to is the present participle and gerund of give someone a speaking to.

Words near giving someone a speaking to in the dictionary

  1. giving someone a hard time
  2. giving someone a lift
  3. giving someone a piece of one's mind
  4. giving someone a ring
  5. giving someone a shout
  6. giving someone a speaking to
  7. giving someone an earful
  8. giving someone ass cancer
  9. giving someone beans
  10. giving someone butt cancer
  11. giving someone five

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: giving someone a speaking to (page history and authors); give someone a speaking to (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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