Meaning:
if you read the riot act to someone, you warn or reprimand them energetically or forcefully
Examples:
- I'll read the riot act and I'll explain to the family.
- I had to read the riot act.
- He should then have read the riot act to Italy and France in the way that Manfred Weber of the PPE did earlier in this debate.
- The UN Secretary-General did not greet us with polite and hackneyed words of thanks, no, he really read the riot act to Europe over its immigration policy.