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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
Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 5 Oct. 2025
There’s no question Newsom — who had spent months excoriating refiners for gouging consumers on gasoline prices, even calling a special legislative session to impose new regulations — changed his tune after two refineries announced plans to shut down.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 30 Sep. 2025
But a federal judge threw out the lawsuit in March 2024, excoriating the platform’s case as plainly punitive rather than about protecting the platform’s security and legal rights.
—Hadas Gold, CNN Money, 29 Sep. 2025
How has Fawlty Towers, one of the most offbeat, provincial, inappropriate, and heavily excoriated shows of all time, remained popular for 50 years?
—Jonathan Margolis, Air Mail, 20 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Excoriate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/excoriate. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.
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excoriate
verb
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