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riot act

NOUN
  1. a vigorous reprimand
    I read him the riot act

How To Use riot act In A Sentence

  • Afterwards, Waziri would read the riot act in Kinyankole, the smoke from the matooke grates swirling behind him.
  • One approach was to read these young people the riot act and let them repent or retreat.
  • If passed, this bill will be yet another of the powers of Star Chamber accrued by the US Government in the name of homeland security: issuing search warrants through secret courts, accumulating personal records without warrant in a provision of the PATRIOT Act renewed by President Obama, and now protecting witnesses from legal recourse when they level dubiously factual charges. Feisal G. Mohamed: "See Something, Say Something" And Impunity for Profiling
  • Nor is it a charge made possible by the Patriot Act, a simple overzealous attempt to keep America safe.
  • I'm glad you read the riot act to Billy. He's still a kid and still needs to be told what to do.
  • I feel a bit sorry for the gay-bashing, drug-warrioring, morning after pill-banning, no-knock search-loving, Patriot Act-hugging folks who considered this site their ideological home for solong. The Volokh Conspiracy » Results of VC Reader Poll
  • But reading the riot act is what parents do to children, what teachers do to pupils, and what people in authority do to subordinates.
  • Obama auto-pens Patriot Act extension into law CBS/AP WASHINGTON - President Obama has taken advantage of a little-known and infrequently used device called an autopen to put his signature on legislation extending the government's post-Sept. 11 powers to search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists for anther four years. Breaking News: CBS News
  • If the kids don't settle down soon, I'll go up and read them the riot act.
  • The Patriot Act was put forward as an excuse and I was asked to reapply.
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