Yes probably because rate is a word of its own.
There is no by- prefix. Perhaps what was mean was be-. Some words starting with this are because, belittle, berate, etc.
Berate others for making money on the property market.
The accent or stress is on the second syllable. The 'be' is a prefix as in behead, bequest, bedeck, bedazzle, bedew, bewail, befriend, berate. The root word is NOT 'best' with a suffix '-ow'. The 'be-' prefix conveys the sense of surrounding, covering, affecting completely, or causing to be. The part of the word after the prefix is stressed because that is the root word and conveys the information.
In the King James Version, no form of the word "berate" appears.Berate, berated, berated, berateth, etc.
Berate
Be- is the prefix that means on or make. A few examples are belittle, bedeck, because, and berate.
berate and besiege
The following words are synonymous with the word berate: rebuke, reprimand, reproach, scold, upbraid, and tell off. These were sourced from a MacMillan thesaurus.
scold is to berate as home is to hall
I want to berate you in the back seat all night long. That is a correct but unlikely use of the verb, and suggests quite the wrong meaning. How about "The drill sergeant will berate any soldiers who appear on parade in scuffed boots."
berate, scolded
The word is "berate," which means to scold or criticize someone harshly.