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excoriate
[ ik-skawr-ee-eyt, -skohr- ]
verb (used with object)
- to denounce or berate severely; flay verbally:
He was excoriated for his mistakes.
- to strip off or remove the skin from:
Her palms were excoriated by the hard labor of shoveling.
excoriate
/ ɪkˈskɔːrɪˌeɪt /
verb
- to strip (the skin) from (a person or animal); flay
- med to lose (a superficial area of skin), as by scratching, the application of chemicals, etc
- to denounce vehemently; censure severely
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Derived Forms
- exˌcoriˈation, noun
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Other Words From
- unex·cori·ated adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of excoriate1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of excoriate1
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Example Sentences
It became a big part of the mayor’s race with one candidate excoriating the other for signing off on the deal and then the other candidate slamming the first one for signing off on the renovation.
Newsom didn’t just excoriate the decision but focused on Benitez personally.
William felt able to issue a video message on Twitter excoriating the BBC after the corporation published its report into Martin Bashir’s interview with Princess Diana.
As the state’s top election official, she has excoriated the “fraudit” all over the mainstream media, partly because she fears it will become the norm.
She drew scrutiny last month for traveling to Utah with her husband during the crisis and later excoriated the wind power industry during a committee hearing, though wind turbines generate only a fraction of the state’s electricity.
Newspaper editorials continue to excoriate Netanyahu, even calling for his resignation—editorials written by his supporters.
It teases and goads the wealthy to be fair rather than excoriate them for being rich.
Those who excoriate the approach as idealistic or unrealistic missed the point.
That opened a new opportunity for bloggers to excoriate both Duncan and his staff.
Critics on the right properly excoriate him for those historic mistakes.
Neither have you a right to excoriate those who are conscientiously operating through the channels spoken of.
The drops of rain bruise us; the false sounds excoriate us; the darkness blinds us.
Those attacked by the insect scratch, and in this act they excoriate the skin, crush the lice and contaminate their fingers.
Five days after this period, I again observed a disposition to excoriate.
Its pamphlets went so far as to excoriate allied methods of warfare and to level accusations of inhumanity against the Belgians.
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Related Words
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More About Excoriate
What does excoriate mean?
Excoriate means to harshly scold, criticize, denounce, or express intense disapproval of someone or something.
Excoriating someone often involves the severest possible tone and words.
This sense of excoriate is based on its original, literal meaning: to strip off or remove the skin from an animal or person. The skin on your hands might be excoriated from hard yard work, for example.
The word flay can be used as a synonym for both the figurative and literal sense of excoriate.
In a medical context, excoriate means to scratch, scrape, or otherwise cause skin to be rubbed off or removed.
The act or an instance of excoriating is excoriation.
Example: She publicly excoriated her rival for his role in the scandal, criticizing him in the most extreme terms.
Where does excoriate come from?
The first records of excoriate come from around 1400. It comes from the Latin verb excoriāre, meaning “to strip off skin or bark,” from the Latin corium, meaning “skin” or “hide.” The prefix ex- means “without,” and the suffix -ate is used to form verbs. The figurative sense of excoriate didn’t enter widespread use until around the 1880s.
Today, when people use the word excoriate, they’re most likely talking about harshly scolding someone, and not about literally ripping someone’s skin off. But this is the underlying sense of its figurative use—a scolding so severe that it’s compared to getting your skin stripped off. There are many other words that mean about the same thing as excoriate, including flay, berate, castigate, chastise, and upbraid. Less formal synonyms include the terms rip into, tear into, and lay into.
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What are some other forms related to excoriate?
- unexcoriated (adjective)
- excoriation (noun)
What are some synonyms for excoriate?
What are some words that share a root or word element with excoriate?
What are some words that often get used in discussing excoriate?
How is excoriate used in real life?
The figurative sense of excoriate is much more commonly used than its literal sense.
Sean Payton should get a free pass from the league office to excoriate NFL officiating. The NFL has gone out of their way to earn it.
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) September 15, 2019
Top aides in Health and Human Services excoriated government doctors for warning Americans about the new coronavirus https://t.co/yFejJtVdkR
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) September 18, 2020
Ok, I am going to get excoriated for this but, I just don't get the craze for "Frozen". https://t.co/smQKL2Afoi
— Aradia Zenobia (@Oxyzentricity) September 18, 2020
Try using excoriate!
Which of the following terms is NOT a synonym of excoriate?
A. tear into
B. berate
C. encourage
D. castigate
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