castigate
Americanverb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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castigationnoun
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castigatornoun
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castigativeadjective
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castigatoryadjective
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noncastigatingadjective
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self-castigatingadjective
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uncastigatedadjective
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uncastigativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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castigatesimple
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castigatessimple
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have castigatedperfect
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has castigatedperfect
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am castigatingprogressive
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are castigatingprogressive
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is castigatingprogressive
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have been castigatingperfect progressive
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has been castigatingperfect progressive
Past
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castigatedsimple
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had castigatedperfect
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was castigatingprogressive
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were castigatingprogressive
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had been castigatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of castigate
First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin castīgātus literally, “driven to be faultless” (past participle of castigāre “to chasten”), equivalent to cast(us) “pure, clean” + -īg-, combining form of agere “to drive, incite” + -ātus past participle suffix; see chaste, -ate 1
Explanation
Use castigate when you mean "to reprimand in an especially harsh way." If you accidentally spill coffee all over your sister's favorite sweater, you might worry that she's going to castigate you as soon as she finds out. Castigate means punish, and punish harshly, but the punishment is always a severe scolding. Sometimes it means criticize severely. Politicians in the Senate are always castigating each other for their alliances and opinions. Castigate and chasten, which also means "to reprimand" but is less severe, share the Latin root castus which means "pure." Ideally, if you castigate someone, you mean to guide someone away from the wrong path and toward a more pure one. But it sure doesn't feel like that when you're being castigated!
Vocabulary lists containing castigate
100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Grade 11, List 6
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Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 1
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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.
See Examples For:
Webb was able to take on some of Hong Kong’s most powerful constituencies and castigate regulatory authorities for letting corporate governance issues fester.
From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026
"You will be the same person that will castigate us if we acquiesce to accepting Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria," he added.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2025
Imagine how much you would have to hate life to castigate someone for laughing.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2024
Mr. Cooper called in to “Geraldo” to argue that he was not at fault, and to castigate his son.
From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2023
Then what ideas did Mencken hold that made a newspaper like the Commercial Appeal castigate him publicly?
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
Pécresse, who controls Paris regional transport, hopes to have all buses and trains equipped with aircon by 2032, and she castigates her Socialist predecessor for failing to see its importance.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
Watergate was an early obsession as the long-haired character Mark Slackmeyer, who later goes to work for NPR, delivers a profile of John Mitchell and castigates the establishment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
In U2’s “Crumbs From Your Table,” Bono castigates the wealthy West, especially the U.S., for its miserly and neglectful treatment of African countries long harmed by colonization.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
Then "Calliope" turns into a vengeance story: Dream castigates Richard for holding Calliope captive and orders him to free her.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2022
And Knappe himself, in his despatch of March 21st, 1889, castigates the practice with much sense.
From A Footnote to History Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa by Stevenson, Robert Louis
She castigated department attorneys over their “appalling” and “reckless disregard for the duty of candor” and described them as “unworthy of this trust at every point.”
From Slate ● May 18, 2026
The creator and lead actress of the HBO hit series “Girls” has long been castigated for her vocal fry and grating delivery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
England were widely castigated after the first Test ended inside two days, with former players slamming the so-called "Bazball" tactics which saw a number of batsmen throw their wickets away with rash shots.
From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025
It repeats, without shedding new light, on the ways Kissinger has long been celebrated and castigated.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2025
It saddened and embarrassed Hall to be publicly castigated by this demigod, this ur-climber who had been one of his childhood heroes.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
In recent days, the hits have come from all sides, with her 2022 challenger, billionaire mall mogul Rick Caruso, castigating Bass in the media for her absence and handling of the fire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2025
"Women also must take this opportunity to bring men along with us," scolded Kami Rieck at the New York Times, in a column castigating women who are feeling demoralized about dating men.
From Salon ● Dec. 27, 2024
On the left, meanwhile, publicly castigating the big asset managers on ESG, including calling for senior executives to resign, risks creating a bunker mentality that could lead the firms to disengage from the broader debate.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 20, 2023
There were similar scenes from West Ham's players at Southampton, castigating Peter Bankes for not ruling out Saints' opener, while Hammers boss David Moyes said the VAR needed "to go to Specsavers".
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2022
She went on in that vein for a while, castigating herself.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
