castigate

verb cas·ti·gate \ ˈkas-tə-ˌgāt \

|Updated on: 5 Jul 2018

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Examples: castigate in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of castigate

castigated; castigating

transitive verb

: to subject to severe punishment, reproof, or criticism

The judge castigated the lawyers for their lack of preparation.

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castigation

play \ˌkas-tə-ˈgā-shən\ noun

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castigator

play \ˈkas-tə-ˌgā-tər\ noun

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Examples of castigate in a Sentence

The author castigated the prime minister as an ineffective leader.
castigated him for his constant tardiness

Recent Examples of castigate from the Web

President Donald Trump later castigated the restaurant on Twitter, saying that the restaurant’s exterior was dirty.

— glenn fleishman, Fortune, "In Unusual Move, Secret Service Will Protect White Press Secretary Sarah Sanders," 26 June 2018
Fallon was swiftly castigated by social media, the press, and fellow comedians.

— meagan fredette, refinery29.com, "Jimmy Fallon Cries Out His Regrets About The Infamous Trump Interview," 24 June 2018
Regardless, the comments went viral: Without missing a beat, the internet and the media was swift to castigate Trump over his deplorable remarks.

— juan escalante, Vox, "Trump’s rhetoric, and agencies like ICE immigration enforcement, dehumanize immigrants.," 18 May 2018
For decades, when not effervescing over royal weddings and births, the tabloids have castigated the royals as lazy, frumpy, dissipated or self-indulgent.

— lisa ryan, The Cut, "How Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Are Getting Ready for Their Wedding," 2 May 2018
Judge Leon castigates the government’s main witness, UC Berkeley economist Carl Shapiro.

— joe palazzolo, WSJ, "Decoding Judge Leon's AT&T-Time Warner Decision," 12 June 2018
Last year, Christie shut it down for three days, then was castigated on social media after he and his family were photographed relaxing on a closed state-run beach.

— elise young, Bloomberg.com, "Murphy's Spending Has Even Democrats Balking in New Jersey," 5 June 2018
In her compelling memoir, The Wind in My Hair: My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran, journalist and activist Masih Alinejad describes several occasions when she was castigated for how she was dressed.

— barbara spindel, The Christian Science Monitor, "'The Wind In My Hair' is Iranian activist Masih Alinejad's gutsy story," 30 May 2018
On Wednesday, a day after announcing his bid to run for Jeff Flake’s Arizona Senate seat, Arpaio appeared on CNN and reverted to the tactics of the lace-front lunatic who pardoned him by ducking policy questions and instead castigating Barack Obama.

— michael harriot, The Root, "Racist, Corrupt, Senate-Running Convict Joe Arpaio Still Holding On to Birther Claim," 11 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'castigate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Castigate has a synonym in chastise - both verbs mean to punish or to censure someone. Fittingly, both words derive from the same root: the Latin castigare, formed from the words for "pure" (castus) and "to drive" (agere). (Castus also gave us the noun caste, meaning "social class or rank.") Another verb derived from castigare is chasten, which can also mean "to discipline by punishment" but more commonly means "to subdue or make humble" (as in "chastened by his foolish error"). Castigate is the youngest of the three verbs in English, dating from the early 17th century, some three centuries after chasten and chastise.

Origin and Etymology of castigate

Latin castigatus, past participle of castigare — more at chasten

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First Known Use: 1606

in the meaning defined above

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castigate Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of castigate

punish, chastise, castigate, chasten, discipline, correct mean to inflict a penalty on in requital for wrongdoing. punish implies subjecting to a penalty for wrongdoing.