exfoliate
Americanverb (used with object)
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exfoliates,
present (3rd person singular)
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exfoliated,
past participle, past
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exfoliating
present participle
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to throw off in scales, splinters, etc.
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to remove the surface of (a bone, the skin, etc.) in scales or laminae.
verb (used without object)
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exfoliates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
exfoliated,
past participle, past
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exfoliating
present participle
-
to throw off scales or flakes; peel off in thin fragments.
The bark of some trees exfoliates.
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Geology.
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to split or swell into a scaly aggregate, as certain minerals when heated.
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to separate into rudely concentric layers or sheets, as certain rocks during weathering.
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Medicine/Medical. to separate and come off in scales, as scaling skin or any structure separating in flakes.
verb
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(tr) to wash (a part of the body) with a granular cosmetic preparation in order to remove dead cells from the skin's surface
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(of bark, skin, etc) to peel off in (layers, flakes, or scales)
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(intr) (of rocks or minerals) to shed the thin outermost layer because of weathering or heating
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(of some minerals, esp mica) to split or cause to split into thin flakes
a factory to exfoliate vermiculite
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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exfoliatesimple
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exfoliatessimple
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have exfoliatedperfect
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has exfoliatedperfect
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am exfoliatingprogressive
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are exfoliatingprogressive
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is exfoliatingprogressive
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have been exfoliatingperfect progressive
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has been exfoliatingperfect progressive
Past
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exfoliatedsimple
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had exfoliatedperfect
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was exfoliatingprogressive
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were exfoliatingprogressive
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had been exfoliatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exfoliate
First recorded in 1605–15; from Late Latin exfoliātus, past participle of exfoliāre “to strip off leaves”; see origin at ex- 1, foliate
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:
Treatments will clean, exfoliate and moisturize the scalp, and they will include a gentle head massage.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026
Products containing salicylic acid also help exfoliate the skin, which promotes turnover of dead skin cells and keeps pores from getting clogged.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
These are like facial masks for your feet, and many make lofty promises to remove calluses, exfoliate your skin and make your feet feel smoother and softer.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 19, 2022
Don’t wash your face, don’t exfoliate, don’t put a tea-tree serum on it.
From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2019
These boulders owe their spheroidal form chiefly to 221 weathering, or action of frost, which causes the surface to exfoliate in concentric plates, so that all the more prominent angles are removed.
From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell
Writer-director Sofia Coppola exfoliates the lust for celebrity lifestyles that often powers theft, even at its most haphazard and uncoordinated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
The spa’s most popular body treatment is the Honey Glow Body Wrap, which exfoliates your entire body in a warm wrap of honey.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 29, 2021
But overuse of a brush that exfoliates can cause skin to become inflamed and red.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2019
“The belief is that if you give your skin everything it needs to perform optimally, you won’t have to help it exfoliate itself. The truth is our skin naturally exfoliates itself through programmed cell turnover.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 9, 2018
Characteristics of the Tree: Height, 80'-100'; diameter 2'-4'; trunk often forked; bark, light gray, shallow fissures, rather smooth, rarely exfoliates; leaves, 8"-12" long, compound 7 leaflets, sharply serrate; fruit, a thick-shelled nut, bitter kernel.
From Wood and Forest by William Noyes
After addressing structural problems such as loss of adhesion and exfoliated paint, the restorers then used reversible techniques -- including watercolour paint -- to "stitch" everything back together, she said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
For 45 minutes, a “Q-facial” machine sprayed, vacuumed, exfoliated and hydrated my face, delivering ultrasonic waves at two different depths.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
The quality of the OF-CVD-grown samples proved virtually identical to that of exfoliated graphene.
From Science Daily ● May 29, 2024
As exfoliated in Paul B. Preciado’s playful and profound cine-essay, Woolf’s narrative explodes into a multiplicity of voices, nonbinary and trans, speaking directly to the camera in an unflinching stream of complex, heartfelt testimony.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2023
In Miller's aerial photo the mountain looked particularly sinister: a huge fin of exfoliated stone, dark and smeared with ice.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
When Tayshia Adams, a TV host and self-professed skincare junkie, double cleanses in the shower, she uses a vitamin C-based exfoliating wash then a hydrating cleanser.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
They swirled hand-muddled blueberries and raw honey into organic, sugar-free yogurt for his facial; they stirred exfoliating Japanese volcanic sand into mineral-rich Korean mud for his hydrating mask.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2025
When the trees shed their puzzle-piece bark, it’s like they’re exfoliating: They deposit pollutants into the soil, preventing them from entering local waterways or our lungs, while jettisoning damaged bark.
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2024
It comes after the British Association for Dermatologists warned potentially harmful active ingredients found in some of these products made for adults, such as exfoliating acids, can provoke allergies or eczema in younger skin.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2024
Ifemelu had finished and Aunty Uju was coating an exfoliating mask on her face when The General called to say he could no longer come.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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