flogging
Americannoun
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a beating, especially with a whip or scourge.
Punishments included public flogging, imprisonment, or death by stoning.
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aggressive promotion or advertising.
The writer is annoyed by the flogging and over-coverage of the World Cup, a sporting event he claims few Americans know or care much about.
Etymology
Origin of flogging
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Milan-Cortina Games have hardly been an exception, although there have been no reports of public flogging.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026
Both players hyped up the Dubai contest like a pair of boxers flogging a fight.
From BBC • Dec. 28, 2025
But opportunities like last week’s flogging of the new Porsche 911 Turbo S on Circuito Ascari are rare and require considerable schlepping.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025
But it’s also part of Netflix’s “rise and fall” true crime genre, cautioning against believing in figures like Johnson, who hooks young men by flogging a version of caveman masculinity that associates virility with dominance.
From Salon • Jun. 1, 2025
“See,” he said, “they come quickly; they are flogging the horses, and galloping as hard as they can.”
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
