Illustration of pillory
- pillory 1
plural pillories
1
: a device formerly used for publicly punishing offenders consisting of a wooden frame with holes in which the head and hands can be locked
2
: a means for exposing one to public scorn or ridicule
pilloried; pillorying
1
: to set in a pillory as punishment
2
: to expose to public contempt, ridicule, or scorn
Did you know?
In days gone by, criminals who got caught might well have found themselves in the stocks (which held the feet or both feet and hands) or a pillory. Both of those forms of punishment—and the words that name them—have been around since the Middle Ages. We latched onto pillory from the Anglo-French pilori, which has the same meaning as our English term but the exact origins of which are uncertain. For centuries, pillory referred only to the wooden frame used to hold a ne'er-do-well, but by the early 1600s, folks had turned the word into a verb for the act of putting someone in a pillory. Within a century, they had further expanded the verb to cover any process that led to as much public humiliation as being pilloried.
Examples of pillory in a Sentence
Verb
The press pilloried the judge for her decision.
Recent Examples on the Web
Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 19 Sep. 2025
The 4% rule has drawn praise and pillory for years.
—Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2025
Jason Zengerle, New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2026
For months, the Trump administration pilloried him as a corrupt drug-trafficking politician who consorted with terrorists to harm America, setting the stage for the U.S. military’s seizure of the Venezuelan president in a pre-dawn raid on Saturday.
—Jay Weaver
january 8, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for pillory
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Noun
She’s forced into vacating her post, and takes to long days of binge-drinking and doom-scrolling as threatening male social media incels pillory her reputation after the details of her lawsuit against Tinder are leaked.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 19 Sep. 2025
The 4% rule has drawn praise and pillory for years.
—Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2025
Verb
On social media, he was getting pilloried by Fuentes’s legions of fans, many of them alienated young conservatives who call themselves Groypers, in honor of an obese version of the Pepe the Frog meme.
—Jason Zengerle, New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2026
For months, the Trump administration pilloried him as a corrupt drug-trafficking politician who consorted with terrorists to harm America, setting the stage for the U.S. military’s seizure of the Venezuelan president in a pre-dawn raid on Saturday.
—Jay Weaver
january 8, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for pillory
Cite this Entry
“Pillory.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pillory. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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