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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
/ ɪˈɔːɪˌɪ /
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
Derived Forms
- ˌǰˈپDz, noun
Other Word Forms
- ܲe·۾·e adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of excoriate1
Word History and Origins
Origin of excoriate1
Example Sentences
History will justifiably excoriate the United States for this, whether our democratic republic survives or not.
In searing speeches, Pabon and others excoriated the Trump administration, but also urged attendees to take action, saying that lawmakers needed to hear about their dire circumstances — and the consequences of inaction.
Constructive critiques of major disasters like Vietnam and Iraq they will excoriate as “aid and comfort to the enemy.”
After the hearing, Republican members of the Legislature held a news conference to excoriate Democrats for blocking further debate on two bills that, they said, polls show a majority of California voters agree with.
The group of about 200 workers, their supporters and constituents of Kim decried potential cuts to Medi-Cal, as Medicaid is known in California, and excoriated President Trump and tech titan Elon Musk, head of DOGE.
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More About Excoriate
doesexcoriate 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 doesexcoriate come from?
The first records of excoriate come from around 1400. It comes from the Latin verb 泦ǰ, 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.
Did you know ... ?
are some other forms related to excoriate?
- unexcoriated (adjective)
- excoriation (noun)
are some synonyms for excoriate?
are some words that share a root or word element with excoriate?
are some words that often get used in discussing excoriate?
How isexcoriate 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)
Top aides in Health and Human Services excoriated government doctors for warning Americans about the new coronavirus
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast)
Ok, I am going to get excoriated for this but, I just don't get the craze for "Frozen".
— Aradia Zenobia (@Oxyzentricity)
Try usingexcoriate!
Which of the following terms is NOT a synonym of excoriate?
A. tear into
B. berate
C. encourage
D. castigate
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