Idiom
take to task
Meaning
To lecture, berate, admonish, or hold somebody accountable for his or her actions.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The manager took the employee to task for being late.”
“After the project failed, the director took the entire team to task for their lack of preparation.”
“The editor took the journalist to task for failing to verify the sources before publishing such a controversial and damaging report.”
Examples
simple
“The manager took the employee to task for being late.”
contextual
“After the project failed, the director took the entire team to task for their lack of preparation.”
complex
“The editor took the journalist to task for failing to verify the sources before publishing such a controversial and damaging report.”
Key words
Related idioms
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