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Definition
to decrease confidence by making someone realize they have done poorlyor (archaically): to severely criticize or punish
- It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him with the words, "And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!Abraham Lincoln
- In some way chastened and purified by the mood they had been in, they became, not man and woman, not boy and girl, but excited little animals.Sherwood Anderson -- Winesburg, Ohio
- Then, after a time he began: "Oh, Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger; neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure.Theodore Dreiser -- An American Tragedy
- Chastened, I reckon, 'em Mr. Bodwin say he selling it soon's he can.Toni Morrison -- Beloved
- I look up at his face, still crinkled in laughter ... and suddenly feel very chastened.Sophie Kinsella -- Confessoins of a Shopaholic
- Chastened, Eragon dipped his head and murmured, "Yes, Master."Christopher Paolini -- Brisingr
- Sacred moments, when heart talked to heart in the silence of the night, turning affliction to a blessing, which chastened grief and strengthned love.Louisa May Alcott -- Little Women
- As I look out on the night, my tears fall fast, and my undisciplined heart is chastened heavily — heavily.Charles Dickens -- David Copperfield
- 'I don't grieve for myself,' he says, 'God, it seems, has chastened me.Leo Tolstoy -- War and Peace
- At first they hoped Stink might appear, wet and grinning and chastened, but as time passed so did their expectations.Tim O'Brien -- Going After Cacciato
- I'm properly chastened," Gurney said.Frank Herbert -- Dune
- "Chastened," Tanner interrupted.Gillian Flynn -- Gone Girl
- He immediately began to talk to Pansy—on whom it was certainly mystifying to see that he dropped a smile of chastened devotion.Henry James -- The Portrait of a Lady - Volumes 1 & 2
- "And Koorshid pointed out one who had more than any contributed to the death of my father," said Haidee, in a tone of chastened anger.Alexandre Dumas -- The Count of Monte Cristo
- His wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened by the sensibility of his heart.Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein
- Even the most rude and brawling are chastened by the ceremonies of a funeral.James Fenimore Cooper -- The Deerslayer
- No one was there to warn or hold them; their parents, chastened and grieving, were far away.Toni Morrison -- Song of Solomon
- Inwardly Badenhorst must have been fuming, but outwardly he seemed chastened.Nelson Mandela -- Long Walk to Freedom
- A chastened man, an older man, he remembered: All summer, to begin with, he felt elated.Gish Jen -- Typical American
- It was what he had expected, but Newt still felt chastened as he turned back to the drags.Larry McMurtry -- Lonesome Dove