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Verb: dress down  dres dawn
  1. [informal] Censure severely or angrily
    "The customer dressed down the waiter for bringing cold soup";
    - call on the carpet [US, informal], take to task, rebuke, rag [informal], trounce, lecture, reprimand, jaw [informal], call down [informal], scold, chide, berate, bawl out [informal], remonstrate, chew out [N. Amer, informal], chew up [N. Amer, informal], have words, lambaste, lambast, ream [N. Amer, informal], wig [Brit, informal]
     
  2. Dress informally and casually
    "On Fridays, employees can dress down";
    - underdress

Derived forms: dressing down, dresses down, dressed down

Type of: criticise [Brit], criticize, damn [informal], dress, get dressed, knock [informal], pick apart

Antonym: prink

Encyclopedia: Dress down