castigate

verb cas·ti·gate \ ˈkas-tə-ˌgāt \

|Updated on: 7 Jun 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

The news prompted a massive public relations crisis for Facebook and triggered congressional hearings, during which lawmakers castigated Facebook’s chief executive officer.

— emma stefansky, The Hive, "Trump Fires Off Greatest Hits in Twitter Rant That Is Wild Even By His Standards," 20 May 2018
This is a woman whose (toxic-seeming) relatives publicly castigate her in the tabloids — something that would have been unthinkable during Middleton’s engagement — and who comes across all the more relatable for it.

— tara isabella burton, Vox, "What the difference between Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle says about how we conceive of the “ideal woman”," 18 May 2018
President Trump announces policy, castigates critics and touts allies in 280 characters.

— kurtis lee, latimes.com, "Trump often characterizes things — such as DACA and Obamacare — as 'dead.' Is that right?," 4 May 2018
It’s in Kraft, a Trump buddy who is willing to blame players for kicking Trump into Full Demagogue Mode instead of castigating the man himself.

— drew magary, GQ, "NFL Owners Are Hopelessly Damaged Human Beings," 26 Apr. 2018
To this point, Trump has found ways to renew the Iran agreement while still castigating it as a disaster.

— eric levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump to Announce Decision on Iran Deal Tuesday," 7 May 2018
Conservative outlets like Breitbart are praising Trump after castigating him for not securing wall funding in the omnibus.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Trump is following through on his ‘America First’ mantra. Why are some people so surprised?," 5 Apr. 2018
First create a credible incredible fear in immigrant communities, castigate them, call them rapists and murders.

— Fox News, "Ingraham: All but forgotten American tragedies," 28 Mar. 2018
When Wylie's colleagues failed to produce a memo explaining their work to Neugebauer, Nix castigated them over email.

— Anchorage Daily News, "Consultants for Trump misused Facebook data of millions," 18 Mar. 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

NEW! Time Traveler

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.