1
as in attacks
to criticize harshly and usually publicly
the mayor had hardly been in office for a month before she was being excoriated for problems of very long standing
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Recent Examples of excoriates
Woodcutters sets forth the musings of a narrator sitting in an armchair at a dinner party who excoriates the literary awards establishments of his native land (and by extension all lands that are host to a robust bourgeoisie).
—
Literary Hub, 19 Feb. 2026
Literary Hub, 19 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for excoriates
Verb
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Democrats, meanwhile, say the rhetoric sounds strikingly similar to the populist arguments advanced by the very progressives DeSantis routinely attacks.—
Garrett Shanley,
Miami Herald,
3 June 2026
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Dennis waits until Mallory leaves to go on a bike ride, and then attacks her on the path.—
Erin Qualey,
Vulture,
29 May 2026
Verb
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Elsa’s inquisitive presence almost instantly irritates Amalia, as the latter refuses to simply acquiesce to her relentless quizzing.—
Lé Baltar,
IndieWire,
16 May 2026
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The impish half-smile that irritates opponents eventually returns to his face, though.—
Chris Smith,
Vanity Fair,
11 May 2026
Verb
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Stumbling on to this ruse, Antoine’s friend and manager Armand (Gilles Lellouche) immediately can tell Suzanne is a fake and scolds her for exploiting his friend’s grief.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
12 May 2026
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Or tie scolds to the ducking stool again.—
Annie Lowrey,
The Atlantic,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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From Bay Area poetry slams to national television, Frak has built a career around quick wit, improvisation, and sharp punchlines.—
Tylan Jennings,
CBS News,
28 May 2026
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Justin Crawford slams into the wall for an INCREDIBLE catch!—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
28 May 2026
Verb
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Read's suit criticizes police for not searching the home where O'Keefe was found for blood, fingerprints or DNA evidence.—
Nadine El-Bawab,
ABC News,
4 June 2026
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The suit also criticizes ChatGPT’s propensity to agree with users, arguing that the service’s sycophancy can lead users to develop dangerous psychological attachment to the platform and cause users to pay money to unlock more generous usage quotas.—
Jared Perlo,
NBC news,
1 June 2026
Verb
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New York City’s child welfare agency routinely abuses its emergency power to take children from their parents without a court order, creating lifelong consequences for families, a new class-action lawsuit seeking to end the practice alleged Thursday.—
Cayla Bamberger,
New York Daily News,
28 May 2026
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People deserve a government that watches out for our people’s best interests, not one that abuses its powers and sells us to the highest bidder.—
Lucas Robinson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 May 2026
Verb
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As an example, Vance called out an essay in The Nation that assails Kirk’s views on women, homosexuality, and affirmative action.—
Jonathan Blitzer,
New Yorker,
20 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Mikey lambastes him anyway, turning a speech in praise of Richie into a searing evisceration.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
5 May 2026
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Orbán frequently lambastes the EU, but its funding helped keep the country afloat despite his disastrous economic policies.—
Elizabeth Shackelford,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Excoriates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excoriates. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.
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