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• n  an act or expression of criticism and censure

• The committee had been deadlocked for weeks, as Democrats argued for issuing only a mild letter of "reproval" to Frank while Republicans demanded a more severe punishment.
• The view of sex, which I cared about a lot, seemed punitive and refracted: at the margin of every sunny adolescent day there hung a black Jesuit thundercloud of reproval.
• The House ethics committee issued its mildest form of discipline, a letter of reproval.

• rebuke
• reproof
• reprehension
• reprimand