Idiom
read someone to filth
Meaning
To thoroughly insult, to comprehensively call attention to the flaws or shortcomings of (someone).
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The critic read the actor to filth for his terrible performance.”
“After the manager made a series of unprofessional mistakes, his supervisor read him to filth in front of the entire team.”
“During the heated debate, the opponent read the senator to filth, systematically exposing every contradiction and failure in his long political career.”
Examples
simple
“The critic read the actor to filth for his terrible performance.”
contextual
“After the manager made a series of unprofessional mistakes, his supervisor read him to filth in front of the entire team.”
complex
“During the heated debate, the opponent read the senator to filth, systematically exposing every contradiction and failure in his long political career.”
Origin
From the black gay slang term read (“call attention to someone's flaws”).
Key words
Related idioms
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