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View synonyms for

excoriate

[ ik-skawr-ee-eyt, -skohr- ]

verb (used with object)

excoriated, excoriating.
  1. to denounce or berate severely; flay verbally:

    He was excoriated for his mistakes.

  2. to strip off or remove the skin from:

    Her palms were excoriated by the hard labor of shoveling.



excoriate

/ ɪˈɔːɪˌɪ /

verb

  1. to strip (the skin) from (a person or animal); flay
  2. med to lose (a superficial area of skin), as by scratching, the application of chemicals, etc
  3. to denounce vehemently; censure severely
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˌǰˈپDz, noun
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Other yvlog Forms

  • ܲe·۾·e adjective
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yvlog History and Origins

Origin of excoriate1

Late Middle English, from Late Latin 泦ǰٳܲ (past participle of 泦ǰ “to strip, skin or bark”). See ex- 1, corium, -ate 1; excoriate def 2 was first recorded in 1375–1425, and excoriate def 1 was first recorded in 1880–85.
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yvlog History and Origins

Origin of excoriate1

C15: from Late Latin 泦ǰ to strip, flay, from Latin corium skin, hide
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

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.

From

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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Still, hundreds of viewers excoriated Hulu’s faltering performance and signaled their disappointment.

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Yet there were undoubtedly grumbles from some in the community about the new arrivals, prompting an excoriating editorial in The Buteman newspaper condemning "narrow-minded bigotry".

From

He excoriated, among other things, Europe’s unfortunate recent turn toward censorship of perceived “dissident” speech and mass immigration from nations such as Syria and Afghanistan.

From

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More About Excoriate

What 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 ... ?

What are some other forms related to excoriate?

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 isexcoriate used in real life?

The figurative sense of excoriate is much more commonly used than its literal sense.

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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