Definition of excoriate
excoriated
;excoriating
transitive verb
1 : to wear off the skin of : abrade
2 : to censure scathingly
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Examples of excoriate in a Sentence
He was excoriated as a racist.
The candidates have publicly excoriated each other throughout the campaign.
Recent Examples of excoriate from the Web
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Burgess cited an article by the Seattle brothers Mike and John McKay, former U.S. attorneys and, yep, both Republicans, who excoriated their own party’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for calling for harsher sentences even on low-level crimes.
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Also in the NBC interview, Kelly excoriated intelligence leaks in the wake of last week’s deadly bombing in Manchester, England.
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As Noriega's 10-day sanctuary neared an end Wednesday afternoon, thousands of Panamanians had held a raucous demonstration near the Vatican embassy, excoriating the general and urging the Vatican to force him out into the streets.
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On Twitter, the blowback against her was immediate and excoriating.
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Although Moniz would share the 1949 Nobel Prize in medicine for his pioneering work in psychosurgery, the lobotomy had not only fallen out of favor by the 1950s but was being excoriated as a barbaric practice.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'excoriate'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Excoriate, which first appeared in English in the 15th century, comes from "excoriatus," the past participle of the Late Latin verb excoriare, meaning "to strip off the hide." "Excoriare" was itself formed from a pairing of the Latin prefix ex-, meaning "out," and corium, meaning "skin" or "hide" or "leather." "Corium" has several other descendants in English. One is "cuirass," a name for a piece of armor that covers the body from neck to waist (or something, such as bony plates covering an animal, that resembles such armor). Another is "corium" itself, which is sometimes used as a synonym of "dermis" (the inner layer of human skin).
Origin and Etymology of excoriate
Middle English, from Late Latin excoriatus, past participle of excoriare, from Latin ex- + corium skin, hide — more at cuirass
First Known Use: 15th century
EXCORIATE Defined for English Language Learners
excoriate
playDefinition of excoriate for English Language Learners
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: to criticize (someone or something) very harshly
Learn More about excoriate
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See words that rhyme with excoriate Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for excoriate Nglish: Translation of excoriate for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of excoriate for Arabic speakers
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