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 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
Pesha Magid, Reuters, 14 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for excoriating
Verb
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While Qataris may now indeed question the value of their military cooperation with the United States and its designation of Qatar as a major non-NATO ally, Turkey’s military presence in the country also failed to prevent Israel from attacking.—
Paul Iddon,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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Show Viz Nuno Espirito Santo’s Nottingham Forest had counter-attacking licked.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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However, Agnes is dressed exactly like Wednesday and her Single White Female act is irritating the hell out of her hero.—
Jessica M. Goldstein,
Vulture,
3 Sep. 2025
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Pesky skeeters are irritating Lake County residents as the number of insects carrying the worrisome West Nile Virus climbs.—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
25 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Video evidence showed a trooper punching the man and slamming him to the ground during a 2021 incident.—
Tresa Baldas,
Freep.com,
5 Sep. 2025
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In the disturbing footage, Raja was seen entering the ring and picking up Smith above his head before slamming him hard on the mat.—
Natasha Dye,
People.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The cats kept them up each night with their incessant whining and scratching at their doors.—
Duaa Eldeib,
ProPublica,
10 Sep. 2025
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As a player just scratching the surface of his potential with so much still ahead of him, the coming months are critical to his hopes of landing an invite to Italy.—
Chris Johnston,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Some of those models make the curve tighter, bringing Bermuda into the path, and others give the storm a broader turn, potentially scraping as far as Puerto Rico.—
Alex Harris
Updated September 4,
Miami Herald,
4 Sep. 2025
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Authors are suing tech firms for scraping their books.—
Don Markland,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams has peppered his reelection campaign with AI photos and videos criticizing his opponents, in some of the first indications of how the technology will be integrated into politics.—
Rachyl Jones,
semafor.com,
5 Sep. 2025
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It's believed that Sczczerek chose to share the statement from his business' social media account after the company was flooded with negative reviews criticizing his behavior.—
Chloe Mayer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
2 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Excoriating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excoriating. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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