castigate

verb cas·ti·gate \ ˈkas-tə-ˌgāt \

Updated on: 13 Apr 2018

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

McDonald apologized after US House Speaker Paul Ryan castigated the comment.

— brian macquarrie, BostonGlobe.com, "A look at the VA’s troubled recent history," 29 Mar. 2018
Of the remaining eight comments on Facebook, three were hard to interpret, one castigated the Sun Sentinel for fanning the flames on a controversial subject, and one was simply a GIF of Stephen Colbert eating popcorn.

— dan sweeney, Sun-Sentinel.com, "A retired Supreme Court justice says repeal the Second Amendment — readers from both sides of gun control debate give that a resounding "No"," 28 Mar. 2018
The people who sought to inspire meaningful change and spark conversation were called disruptive and communists and even castigated as terrorists.

— michael harriot, The Root, "Let’s Not Forget What Happens When Students Walk Out to Save Black Lives," 14 Mar. 2018
For decades, critics have castigated the statue as an offensive celebration of native peoples’ subjugation by European settlers.

— dominic fracassa, San Francisco Chronicle, "‘Early Days’ statue won’t be removed from Civic Center just yet," 22 Mar. 2018
In his campaign for president two years ago, Trump castigated UTC for cutting jobs at its Carrier heating and cooling subsidiary in Indiana and shifting work to Mexico, where wages are lower.

— stephen singer, courant.com, "UTC CEO Greg Hayes Blasts Trump Tariffs As 'Bad Idea'," 16 Mar. 2018
President Donald Trump was blamed, the NRA was castigated and police and the FBI were condemned for failing to check worried reports about the shooter's behavior and threats.

— paul jenkins, Anchorage Daily News, "Latest gun control push is just another political scheme from the left," 23 Feb. 2018
Benzema has been castigated by Los Blancos supporters throughout this season due to his lack of goalscoring form and, in quotes published by Goal, Zidane called for an end to the pointless attacks on his compatriot.

— SI.com, "Zinedine Zidane Calls for Real Madrid Fans to End Benzema Jeers," 24 Jan. 2018
That’s ironic, given that Carney has repeatedly been castigated by some British lawmakers and media for being too downbeat on the nation’s prospects before and after 2016’s vote to leave the European Union.

— Fortune, "This Central Bank Has the Worst Track Record for Predicting Inflation," 17 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

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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.