All 7 Uses of
reproach
in
The Good Earth
- Yesterday you attack my house and call aloud in the streets that my daughter is not a virgin; today you reproach me, who if your father passes on, must be as your own father to you!†
Chpt 7 *
- Then, although in his heart he was ashamed that he reproached this creature who through all these years had followed him faithfully as a dog, and although he remembered that when he was poor and labored in the fields himself she left her bed even after a child was born and came to help him in the harvest fields, yet he could not stem the irritation in his breast and he went on ruthlessly, although against his inner will, "I have labored and have grown rich and I would have my wife look…†
Chpt 18
- But on this day when he had reproached his wife even the deference he received did not please him and he sat gloomily drinking his tea and feeling that nothing was as good in his life as he had believed.†
Chpt 18
- But now, driven by his unrest from idleness and wishing to escape from the reproach of his own heart when he remembered that he had been unjust to his wife, he went toward this place.†
Chpt 18
- Then Cuckoo went complaining loudly to Wang Lung and he was angry that his love must be marred by such things and he went to O-lan to reproach her and he shouted at her, "And cannot you add a dipperful of water to the cauldron in the mornings?"†
Chpt 21
- This Wang Lung said in some reproach to the wife of his eldest son, for she would not suffer the poor fool near her, but was finicking and squeamish and she said, "Such an one should not be alive at all, and it is enough to mar the child in me to look at her."†
Chpt 29
- Then Wang Lung repented his reproach and he said mildly, "I will come when the maid is found who is to wed the second son, for it is easier to stay here where Ching is until the matter is completed."†
Chpt 29
Definition:
-
(reproach) a criticism; or to express criticism or disappointment -- especially where a relationship makes the disapproval result in disappointment or shameeditor's notes: The expression "beyond reproach" is often used to indicate that one must not only be careful to do everything right, but must be careful not to do anything that might make people suspect they did something wrong. For example, politicians often need to behave in a manner that is beyond reproach.
"Beyond reproach" can also suggest that something is perfect. More rarely, it can also be used to suggest that someone is too powerful or too well-connected to criticize.