pillory
Americannoun
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pillories
plural
verb (used with object)
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pillories,
present (3rd person singular)
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pilloried,
past participle, past
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pillorying
present participle
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to set in the pillory.
-
to expose to public derision, ridicule, or abuse.
The candidate mercilessly pilloried his opponent.
noun
-
a wooden framework into which offenders were formerly locked by the neck and wrists and exposed to public abuse and ridicule
-
exposure to public scorn or abuse
verb
-
to expose to public scorn or ridicule
-
to punish by putting in a pillory
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pillorysimple
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pilloriessimple
-
have pilloriedperfect
-
has pilloriedperfect
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am pilloryingprogressive
-
are pilloryingprogressive
-
is pilloryingprogressive
-
have been pilloryingperfect progressive
-
has been pilloryingperfect progressive
Past
-
pilloriedsimple
-
had pilloriedperfect
-
was pilloryingprogressive
-
were pilloryingprogressive
-
had been pilloryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pillory
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English pyllory, from Old French pilori, perhaps from Medieval Latin pīlōrium, equivalent to Latin pīl(a) “pillar” ( see pile 1) + -ōrium noun suffix ( see -ory 2), though Romance variants such as Provençal espillori suggest a less transparent source
Explanation
A pillory is a wooden frame with cutouts for someone's head and hands. Long ago, people found guilty of a crime could be sentenced to be locked in a pillory for a certain amount of time for punishment but also for public humiliation. The verb pillory means to be punished by being locked in a pillory, but references to this form of punishment are historic and it is no longer used — you might see references today to someone in a pillory in a cartoon. As a modern verb, pillory means both to criticize harshly and to expose to public ridicule. Someone who is caught doing something immoral may be pilloried and people who believe they have been unfairly criticized say they have been pilloried, but often only after they've been exposed!
Vocabulary lists containing pillory
I've Never Been So Insulted...
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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
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The Taming of the Shrew
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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:
City hall, the slave market, and town pillory were all there, and the wharf on the East River “made it a rendezvous for pirates,” writes Sobol.
From Barron's ● Mar. 1, 2026
The eight women were convicted under the 1586 Irish Witchcraft Act and sentenced to one year's imprisonment and four stints in the pillory.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2025
But lower courts are free to pillory SCOTUS’s decisions as long as they apply them fairly.
From Slate ● Dec. 10, 2024
Despite his disciplined and at times bristling refusal to pillory the former president, glimpses of McGahn’s disappointment with his onetime boss nonetheless came through.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 9, 2021
She could not face the family, or the whispering and staring that would turn her own family pew into a pillory.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
But approach the stocks and pillories in front of the courthouse to recreate a goofy photo from a long-ago school trip, and you will find the headpieces bolted shut.
From New York Times ● May 8, 2023
They've called their album "the record", in a play on the faux-humility of Bob Dylan's backing group The Band; while the song Leonard Cohen simultaneously praises and pillories one of Dacus's inspirations.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2023
The fact that these authorities do not address the general public, unlike the intellectuals Ross pillories, does not raise his democratic hackles.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2021
I shall have to humiliate them in the pillories of the national charts, and in doing so buy myself a big house.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 29, 2019
My little weekly and monthly pillories became instantly popular, for all my kittens were well aimed, and my eggs broke and stuck in a highly entertaining fashion.
From The Talking Horse And Other Tales by F. Anstey
California Rep. Ted Lieu was recently pilloried on social media for suggesting that our current approach to A.I. will not reach consciousness.
From Slate ● May 25, 2026
Morens was pilloried for his email practices during a House Oversight Committee hearing two years ago, and apologized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
Philadelphia is presenting itself as the US World Cup host city offering fans the best value for money, with affordable transport, accommodation and food while other venues are pilloried for gouging supporters.
From Barron's ● Apr. 29, 2026
He was pilloried, and declared bankrupt more than once.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
Arriving in Washington with the same sort of desire and energy to contribute, though, she’d been roundly spurned, pilloried for taking on a policy role in the White House’s work on health-care reform.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
That didn’t stop the Energy Department from pillorying the findings.
From Salon ● May 6, 2025
Emanuel wanted to turn quickly to an overhaul of Wall Street laws, with congressional hearings pillorying rich bankers who had sunk the economy with bad trades.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 6, 2021
They looked for openings for the kind of moment former Housing Secretary Julián Castro had in the June debate in Miami, when he rocketed out of obscurity by pillorying fellow Texan and former U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2019
Straight after his annual Remembrance Day pillorying, James McClean could find himself in the spotlight on Thursday, when the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland meet for a friendly in Dublin.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 15, 2018
The newspapers must from day to day follow the production of the most important factories and other enterprises, registering their successes and failures encouraging some and pillorying others….
From Dictatorship vs. Democracy (Terrorism and Communism) by Leon Davidovich Trotzky
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.
