Definition

To criticize harshly or vehemently; to scold or rebuke severely.

Pronunciation

US English

UK English


See Synonyms, Antonyms and Usage

Excerpts from News Articles

1

The sole time Roberts went public to counter Trump came – perhaps fittingly – when Trump railed against a federal judge in a way that struck at the heart of Roberts’ assertions of judicial neutrality. The episode marked an extraordinary clash between the heads of two branches of government.

Logo 2023-04-03 CNN News

2

The footage followed a string of losses by the men’s team, including a 3-1 defeat to Vietnam that ended their hopes of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, and featured Gong Hanlin railing against overpaid entertainers in a rant directed toward China’s rubber stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress.

Logo 2023-04-07 CNN News

3

At least one Trump associate noted that the former president was a “guilty pleasure” for everyone in the political ecosystem, describing how Trump-related developments give Democrats an issue to rail against and Republicans an issue to rally behind, and boost ratings for cable news outlets.

Logo 2023-04-10 The Guardian

4

The two Black men had recently joined the legislature and condemned their expulsion as a racist action. Joe Biden had criticized the expulsion as unprecedented and Kamala Harris railed against the action on a hastily arranged trip to Nashville last Friday less than 24 hours after the two lawmakers were ousted.

Logo 2023-04-12 The Guardian

5

This is the endless failure of the modern Republican Party. Cutting spending as a concept might sound attractive to many voters until you explain what you’re actually cutting and what effect it would have. They cut taxes so they can then rail about the resulting deficits, but don’t want to discuss how many veterans won’t get care or whose damaged homes won’t get rebuilt or which dangerous products won’t get recalled.

Logo 2023-04-03 The New York Times

6

But Republicans in Congress are almost unanimous in agreeing that they have no plan to touch Social Security and Medicare, seen as a political third rail that previously shocked both President George W. Bush and Paul Ryan, a former Republican speaker. Mr McCarthy has declared any such discussions “completely off the table”.

Logo 2023-04-09 The Economist

7

Lahore-based legal expert Asad Rahim Khan lauded the Supreme Court decision and said it has “done its duty” to the law and the constitution “despite extraordinary pressure, and kept democracy on the rails ”.

Logo 2023-04-04 Al Jazeera

8

Trump then attacked the case’s district attorney, judge and judge’s family – and railed against what he called political interference in his 2024 presidential campaign.

Logo 2023-04-05 Al Jazeera

9

Even though Gandhi is seen as the main challenger to the Modi government, his Indian National Congress party has suffered humiliating defeats in the last two general elections. In a bid to woo voters, Gandhi has railed against Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party in recent months, accusing them of corruption and of tarnishing India’s democratic credentials.

Logo 2023-04-04 MSNBC News

10

Trump railed against President Joe Biden at a rally with Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, in a 10-minute speech and made several stops in town to meet with residents. Last month, he held rallies in Davenport, Iowa, and Waco, Texas, and one adviser said his calendar will soon fill out with big events in early primary states.

Logo 2023-04-09 MSNBC News

11

The small business owner from Bogotá went viral in September after she railed against Vice President Francia Márquez on a video published by a local news site. Rubiano was protesting in front of Colombia’s congress and responded to a question from a journalist by hurling insults against Márquez and Afro Colombians.

Logo 2023-04-11 MSNBC News

12

CINCINNATI — Ron DeSantis rails against the “woke mob.” Nikki Haley calls wokeness a “virus.” But for all their use of the W-word, these and other GOP politicians cannot claim to have written the book on attacking it: That distinction goes to a little-known Republican presidential candidate — Vivek Ramaswamy — who is campaigning on a plank of ridding corporate boardrooms of social causes, including the battle against climate change.

Logo 2023-04-03 The Washington Post

13

While presiding over the 1800 sedition trial of Thomas Cooper, Chase railed against Cooper during his instructions to the jury, seeming to act more as a prosecutor than a judge.

Logo 2023-04-07 The Washington Post

14

In the opening scene of the film — rated TV14 for “coarse language” — the Oil Factory gives a lackluster performance that draws boos from the crowd and establishes their rivalry with Champion Life. Big Love attempts to liven things up with a rap that goes off the spiritual rails . The character is one of several standouts in the film, but that doesn’t mean it was easy to direct the Instagram-famous comedian.

Logo 2023-04-07 The Washington Post

15

He then returned immediately to his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida to give a prime-time televised address where he railed against the charges, Mr Bragg and Judge Merchan.

Logo 2023-04-09 The Independent

16

Spears rejected the documentary wave entirely, suggesting these contemporary film-makers with their triumphant “Victim Freed” narratives felt much the same to her as the intrusive attentions of the 2000s media. Pamela and Brooke obviously have more control over their “personal and real” stories, but they too rail against media narratives that have twisted their actions, words and beliefs to suit whatever agenda the press wanted to push in that cultural moment.

Logo 2023-04-08 The Independent

17

The Home Secretary, who once railed against the “tofu-eating wokerati”, is regarded as a divisive figure for her remarks on migration and “culture war” issues.

Logo 2023-04-10 The Independent

18

Those same theatre managements which rail against lack of sobriety in the audience, not only encourage them to drink during performances, not only obligingly pour their alcohol into plastic cups so they can take drinks from the bar to the auditorium, they also save you the trouble of going to the bar at all by bringing the drinks to you.

Logo 2023-04-10 The Independent

19

Erdogan remains skilled at hitting the same nationalist and populist notes to mobilise AKP supporters. At his rally on Tuesday, he railed against the system. He vowed to change civil service rules to prevent nepotism in hiring at government jobs in an attempt to portray himself as an outsider to a political edifice he has overseen for two decades.

Logo 2023-04-12 The Independent

20

Modern popular culture was also an affront to Amorth. He railed against ouija boards, yoga and Harry Potter, believing them to be a gateway to the demonic.

Logo 2023-04-05 The Conversation

21

In all likelihood ESG will be a major campaign issue in the 2024 presidential election. The speaker of the Republican-majority House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has accused Biden of wanting “Wall Street to use your hard-earned money to fund a far-left political agenda”. Republican presidential contender and Florida governor Ron DeSantis has also been railing hard against the “woke ESG financial scam”.

Logo 2023-04-05 The Conversation

22

Some politicians are still railing against Liddell’s retirement. Federal Nationals leader David Littleproud this week said the closure should be delayed to prevent supply problems, and suggested Australia should have an urgent conversation about building nuclear energy.

Logo 2023-04-12 The Conversation

23

In his first campaign rally, in Waco, Texas, days before the Manhattan indictment, Trump railed against all the investigations and said that his opponents were using the probes “because it’s harder for them to stuff the ballot boxes, of which they stuffed plenty.”

Logo 2023-04-10 Associated Press

24

The small business owner from Bogota went viral in September after she railed against Vice President Francia Márquez on a video published by a local news site. Rubiano was protesting in front of Colombia’s congress and responded to a question from a journalist by hurling insults against Márquez and Afro-Colombians.

Logo 2023-04-11 Associated Press

25

Republicans have been railing against Bragg even before Trump’s indictment, with Jordan leading the cause by issuing a series of letters and subpoenas to individuals involved with the case. Pomerantz refused to voluntarily cooperate with the committee’s request last month at the instruction of Bragg’s office, citing the ongoing investigation.

Logo 2023-04-11 Associated Press

26

Not to be deterred by reality, pandering politicians and media outlets have continued to rail against the make-believe threats. Two days after the Nashville murders, Democrat congresswoman Katherine Clark gave a speech decrying a “vicious crusade” against transgender people by Republican elected officials. Incidentally, Clark’s nonbinary daughter, Jared ‘Riley’ Dowell, was arrested in January for allegedly assaulting a police officer while being arrested for vandalizing an historic monument in Boston.

Logo 2023-04-10 RT News

27

The comparison to Debs might not appeal to Trump, who is fond of railing against socialists (or people he labels socialists). Some might also view the comparison as unfair to Debs, who is seen by many in the labor and anti-war movements as a hero. Still, the two firebrands have a surprising amount in common.

Logo 2023-04-06 Politico

28

Much of the former president's messaging in the last month has been split between attacking DeSantis and railing against the Manhattan district attorney, which last week indicted him in a case centered on a 2016 hush money payment.

Logo 2023-04-03 CNBC

29

In a new campaign video released Thursday, Trump said that if elected he would appoint 100 new US attorneys to fight what he described as “Communist corruption,” as he railed against the US justice system and made baseless claims of bias by district attorneys across the nation.

Logo 2023-04-13 CNN News

30

Tension between Trump and Kemp has been simmering for years. When Kemp refused to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 win in Georgia, Trump made the governor his No. 1 enemy, publicly railing against him throughout 2021 and recruiting former US Sen. David Perdue to challenge Kemp in a GOP primary. Through it all, Trump failed to draw Kemp into a fight, and the governor won his 2022 primary overwhelmingly before handily defeating Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams in the November general election.

Logo 2023-04-15 CNN News

31

Tension between Trump and Kemp has been simmering for years. When Kemp refused to overturn Biden’s 2020 win in Georgia, Trump made the governor his No. 1 enemy, publicly railing against him throughout 2021 and recruiting former US Sen. David Perdue to challenge Kemp in a GOP primary. Through it all, Trump failed to draw Kemp into a fight, and the governor won his 2022 primary overwhelmingly before handily defeating Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams in the November general election.

Logo 2023-04-16 CNN News

32

Biden and Harris seem to be betting that in the coming months, the Republicans can do much more damage to themselves than Democrats could ever do by railing against them. Let Republicans be Republicans and show, to borrow Roy’s words, that they are “not serious people.”

Logo 2023-04-14 CNN News

33

While Friede Springer wrote to Bild’s then editor, Julian Reichelt, at the start of the pandemic in 2020 to praise Merkel’s leadership, Döpfner railed against pandemic restrictions brought in by the then chancellor.

Logo 2023-04-13 The Guardian

34

Month after month the former MP has railed against the inability of the “corrupt political regime” to govern the country in a stream of hate-filled speeches. For his 134,000 subscribers on YouTube, the exhortations are a lifeline to Kasidiaris and the Hellenes, the small nationalist party he set up shortly before being handed a 13-and-a-half-year prison term for his role in Golden Dawn. And they seem to be paying off.

Logo 2023-04-14 The Guardian

35

In one message, Carlson said Powell was “lying” in her claims about Dominion, while Laura Ingraham, a fellow Fox News host, described Powell as “a complete nut”. In other messages, Fox News executives described the conspiracy theories the channel was airing as “mind-blowingly nuts”, “totally off the rails ” and “completely BS”.

Logo 2023-04-17 The Guardian