admonish

/ədˈmɒn.ɪʃ/

//ədˈmɒn.ɪʃ// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"admonish" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“admonish” is uncommon English (frequency #67,203 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,203
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To inform or notify of a fault; to rebuke in a serious tone; to tell off.

Corpus desk

Index EN-admonish · admonish · English

admonish · rank #67,203 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,203
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH Adana

Nearest frequency peer: Adana (-2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “admonish”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “admonish” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for admonish
PropertyValue
Headwordadmonish
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ədˈmɒn.ɪʃ/
Letters8
Frequency rank#67,203
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “admonish” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).admonishfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Adana” (#67,201), “affectation” (#67,205), “acha” (#67,200). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “admonish” is #67,203. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

admonish is uncommon English at frequency #67,203 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ədˈmɒn.ɪʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for admonish, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English admonesten, admonissen, from Old French amonester (modern French admonester), from an unattested Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *admonestrāre, from Latin admoneō (“remind, warn”), from ad + moneō (“warn, advise”). See premonition. The correct English form is admonish, spelled A-D-M-O-N-I-S-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    To inform or notify of a fault; to rebuke in a serious tone; to tell off.
  2. 2
    To advise against wrongdoing; to caution; to warn against danger or an offense.
  3. 3
    To instruct or direct.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how admonish appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Better is a poore and a wise child, then an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished.
  2. And further, by these, my sonne, be admonished: of making many bookes there is no end, and much studie is a wearinesse of the flesh.

Etymology

From Middle English admonesten, admonissen, from Old French amonester (modern French admonester), from an unattested Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *admonestrāre, from Latin admoneō (“remind, warn”), from ad + moneō (“warn, advise”). See premonition.

This word in other languages

amonestar(Español)admonester(Français)ermahnen(Deutsch)advertir(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "admonish"?
"admonish" is spelled A-D-M-O-N-I-S-H. The IPA pronunciation is /ədˈmɒn.ɪʃ/.
What does "admonish" mean?
As a verb, "admonish" means: To inform or notify of a fault; to rebuke in a serious tone; to tell off.
How do you pronounce "admonish"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "admonish" is /ədˈmɒn.ɪʃ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "admonish"?
From Middle English admonesten, admonissen, from Old French amonester (modern French admonester), from an unattested Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *admonestrāre, from Latin admoneō (“remind, warn”), from ad + moneō (“warn, advise”). See premonition. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "admonish", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Angeline#67,216annotate#67,217balancer#67,233Whitford#67,169

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list