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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).

Examples of excoriate in a Sentence

He was excoriated as a racist. The candidates have publicly excoriated each other throughout the campaign.

Recent Examples on the Web Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television Wednesday to excoriate Russians who don’t back him. — Andrea Rosa, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Mar. 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television Wednesday to excoriate Russians who don’t back him. — Andrea Rosa, ajc, 17 Mar. 2022 The letters, first published by The Washington Post on Tuesday, excoriate the decision to award a $482 million contract to Oshkosh Defense without properly examining the environmental impact, as required by law. — Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 3 Feb. 2022 More recently, writers like Ben Shapiro and Jonah Goldberg have revived the phrase to excoriate President Biden and his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan. — Joel Mathis, The Week, 7 Sep. 2021 In one session, Mr. Trump turned to Mr. Christie and began to excoriate him for recommending Christopher Wray for F.B.I. director. — New York Times, 13 Nov. 2021 After her suspension was lifted, Greene returned to Twitter to excoriate the platform. — Brett Molina, USA TODAY, 10 Aug. 2021 But critics, especially President Trump and his political allies, continue to excoriate him for supporting textbook public health measures like wearing face coverings and building immunity with vaccines. — Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, 24 July 2021 Noem previously had supported the bill enthusiastically, leading many of its proponents to excoriate her sudden hesitation as a bow to the state’s left-leaning Chamber of Commerce. — Nicholas Rowan, Washington Examiner, 24 Mar. 2021 See More

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.