Word.ws English Dictionary

have a word with oneself

have a word with oneself verb: to consider one's attitudes or behavior with a view to reform.

Verb

have a word with oneself (third-person singular simple present has a word with oneself, present participle having a word with oneself, simple past and past participle had a word with oneself)

  1. (UK, idiomatic, informal) To consider one's attitudes or behavior with a view to reform.
    • He thinks that everything revolves around him; he needs to have a word with himself.

Forms of have a word with oneself

third-person singular presenthas a word with oneself
present participlehaving a word with oneself
past participlehad a word with oneself
pasthad a word with oneself

Questions about have a word with oneself

What does have a word with oneself mean?
Have a word with oneself means to consider one's attitudes or behavior with a view to reform.
What part of speech is have a word with oneself?
Have a word with oneself is a verb.
What is the past tense of have a word with oneself?
The past tense of have a word with oneself is had a word with oneself.

Words near have a word with oneself in the dictionary

  1. have a way with
  2. have a whack at
  3. have a whale of a time
  4. have a word
  5. have a word in someone's ear
  6. have a word with oneself
  7. have against
  8. have an accident
  9. have an affair
  10. have an easy time of it
  11. have an eye for

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have a word with oneself (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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Cite this entry: “have a word with oneself.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/have_a_word_with_oneself. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.