Can we rebuke something

meaningword-choice

I wonder if we can say rebuke something or not? According to the dictionaries, it seems that we can only rebuke someone but not something. I want to say something like "rebuke greed" in a formal text. I am confused.

The definition from Oxford Dictionary:

Rebuke = ​the act of speaking severely to somebody because they have done
something wrong

The definition from Cambridge Dictionary:

Rebuke = to criticize someone strongly because you disapprove of what
the person has said or done

The definition from Longman Dictionary:

Rebuke = to speak to someone severely about something they have done wrong

The sentence, I want to use rebuke in:

They rebuke his greed and present ethical arguments to argue why he
should be punished.

In case this usage is wrong, could you please introduce me another suitable substitute? Thank you

Best Answer

The use of rebuke with inanimate nouns is archaic:

archaic : to turn back or keep down - CHECK (M-W)

It is used in this way in the Bible:

KJV Psalm 106:9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up.

KJV Luke 4:39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.

It seems that this use has survived in modern writing, but it is very rare and can be characterised as literary. Here are some instances:

  • Courts rebuke the latest prosecutorial attack on business. (WSJ)
  • Hours before the House vote, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., rebuked the report as 'misleading'... (Slate Magazine, COHA)

One alternative would be the suggestion made by Trae. Another alternative would be to use transitive synonyms of rebuke which would accept an inanimate noun as their object, such as reprove which can mean:

to express disapproval of : CENSURE

  • it is not for me to reprove popular taste — D. W. Brogan (M-W)
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