Word.ws English Dictionary

rakes over the coals

rakes over the coals is the third-person singular simple present indicative of rake over the coals.

Meaning of rake over the coals

Verb

rake over the coals (third-person singular simple present rakes over the coals, present participle raking over the coals, simple past and past participle raked over the coals)

  1. (idiomatic) To call to task or to reprimand severely.
    • She raked him over the coals for lying to her.

Questions about rakes over the coals

What is rakes over the coals the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Rakes over the coals is the third-person singular simple present indicative of rake over the coals.

Words near rakes over the coals in the dictionary

  1. rakes it in
  2. rakes off
  3. rakes out
  4. rakes over
  5. rakes over old coals
  6. rakes over the coals
  7. rakes together
  8. rakes up
  9. rakeshame
  10. rakeshames
  11. rakest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rakes over the coals (page history and authors); rake over the coals (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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