1
as in attacking
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 excoriating
The Lynx lost that game, and then, with Collier in a boot on the bench and her coach suspended for excoriating the referees in her defense, came up short in the decisive Game Four, too.
—
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
The level of anger was quickly evident in state media broadcasts - which analysts say are often a measure of official Saudi viewpoints - with television news reports personally excoriating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
—Pesha Magid, Reuters, 14 Feb. 2025
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
The level of anger was quickly evident in state media broadcasts - which analysts say are often a measure of official Saudi viewpoints - with television news reports personally excoriating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
—Pesha Magid, Reuters, 14 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for excoriating
Verb
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In addition, nine other suspects were arrested for allegedly attacking law enforcement officers over the summer during immigration enforcement operations in and around Los Angeles.—
Louis Casiano , Matt Finn,
FOXNews.com,
29 Oct. 2025
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In June 2023, Smith was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, a potentially rare and life-threatening bone infection that was attacking her lower vertebrae.—
Alyssa Davis,
PEOPLE,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Ink merges into breast milk, tranquillity and space to think are filled with irritating barking, and Lawrence loses herself to the madness.—
Billie Melissa,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
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Combining three different actives (AHAs, BHAs, and PHAs) in one product without totally irritating the skin seems like an impossible task, yet Some by Mi has accomplished it with this ease.—
Conçetta Ciarlo,
Vogue,
8 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Back in 1961, residents of Capitola woke up to find that hordes of black seabirds were slamming into cars, windows and people's homes and dying.—
Stephanie Sengwe,
PEOPLE,
25 Oct. 2025
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Ford said earlier that his province was spending $75 million to run ads in the United States slamming the impact of tariffs and featuring clips of Reagan.—
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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And that’s just scratching the surface.—
Clare Mulroy,
USA Today,
28 Oct. 2025
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The Jonas Brothers’ performance at the 2025 World Series left some viewers scratching their heads.—
Mitchell Peters,
Billboard,
26 Oct. 2025
Verb
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This way of peering at screen culture from an inexact distance, which also comes up in a scolding scene where Ethan scrolls aimlessly through something like TikTok, rankles in a play that is otherwise so precise about physical time and space.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
31 Oct. 2025
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Like an impatient parent scolding their toddler, Frankenstein grows frustrated with his monster’s limited capacity for speech.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN Money,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Stir in a splash of sherry vinegar, cook for another minute, then slowly stir in chicken broth, scraping up any pan drippings that have gathered along the surface of the skillet.—
Karla Walsh,
Better Homes & Gardens,
1 Nov. 2025
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Two childhood friends now must face off from opposite sides – Sam, the daughter of a poor single mother scraping toward a better life in Grand Central, and Ari, a Lumines prodigy.—
Clare Mulroy,
USA Today,
31 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Kerr, who played for Popovich in San Antonio at the end of his career and has a strong relationship with his former coach, was asked about load management in the context of a prominent former teammate criticizing the concept.—
Nick Friedell,
New York Times,
31 Oct. 2025
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The former school board member turned charter school executive has built her platform by criticizing the public school system, promoting school choice and private alternatives – all while profiting from establishing and providing services to charter schools throughout the state and nation.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
30 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Excoriating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excoriating. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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