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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).
Synonyms
Examples of excoriate in a Sentence
Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 10 Aug. 2024
Nicholson shies away from excoriating the film totally, but was still left disappointed.
—Abid Rahman, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Aug. 2024
Its longtime leader, Hun Sen, used to excoriate the United States for linking its aid and investment to improvements in the country’s human rights record.
—Agnes Chang, New York Times, 14 July 2024
Gerber, a shareholder himself, excoriated the Tesla board ahead of its second vote.
—Chloe Berger, Fortune, 2 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for excoriate 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'excoriate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Excoriate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/excoriate. Accessed 12 Sep. 2024.
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excoriate
verb
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