If someone gives you a tongue-lashing, they speak very angrily to you about something that you have done. The President of the EU Commission was given a tongue-lashing from the British Prime Minister. Note: You can also say that someone gets a tongue-lashing. Spot got the tongue-lashing that I felt I should have shared. Note: An occasion when someone speaks like this can be called a tongue-lashing. After a cruel tongue-lashing, he threw the girl out of the group.