as in whipping
to strike repeatedly with something long and thin or flexible
some medieval monks believed it was necessary to flagellate themselves in order to keep their desires in check
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Recent Examples of flagellating
His only way of finding any kind of life for himself is to embrace evil, to stop running away from it, to try to stop morally flagellating himself.
—
Charlotte Observer, 25 Feb. 2026
Charlotte Observer, 25 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flagellating
Verb
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The Seahawks won those shootouts, but that was mostly due to their special teams whipping the Rams and their offense going off, especially in the Super Bowl qualifier.—
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
2 June 2026
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Throughout the record, the image of Petras’ life in freefall recurs, giving the record a sense of hair-whipping freedom and heart-stopping urgency.—
Harry Tafoya,
Pitchfork,
2 June 2026
Verb
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The woman’s daughter showed investigators video footage showing Robinson rifling through the woman’s drawers, selecting items and hiding them on her body.—
Kairi Lowery,
Miami Herald,
5 June 2026
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Eggs or young cockroaches may be hiding in them.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
4 June 2026
Verb
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The most recent controversy came in January, when the county paid $135,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused Kramer of improperly slashing a property’s value by millions of dollars — then retaliating against the employee who raised alarms about it.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
9 June 2026
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Police said the suspect was wearing a blue shirt and jeans when he was seen on security footage pouring milk on the vehicle and then slashing the tires.—
Jennifer McRae,
CBS News,
9 June 2026
Verb
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Lately, though, the president has upset religious conservatives by posting a Christ-like image of himself online as well as lashing out at Pope Leo and the Vatican.—
Francesca Chambers,
USA Today,
9 June 2026
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Iran’s lashing out at Israel for the sake of Hezbollah carries major risks.—
Sam Metz,
Chicago Tribune,
8 June 2026
Verb
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Kamara found it a couple of hours before kick-off when flicking through a copy of the matchday programme.—
Richard Sutcliffe,
New York Times,
23 May 2026
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The dragons stalk the island, flicking their huge tongues in hopes of picking up the scent of a deer, wild boar, or water buffalo — the latter two species introduced by humans — or rodents and other smaller reptiles, including baby Komodo dragons.—
Craig Stanford,
Big Think,
7 May 2026
Verb
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With his country flailing in their pitiful attempts to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, at the age of 33, Zidane underwent his change of heart.—
Amy Lawrence,
New York Times,
31 May 2026
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But at the last second, Pages pulled up to let Tucker make the catch, and Tucker hesitated before flailing after it.—
Maddie Lee,
Los Angeles Times,
30 May 2026
Verb
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So, that is one gig at a completely unnecessary addition to the sports calendar, created by corporate interests for the sole intention of flogging products to people who do not really like sport… and another at the Enhanced Games.—
Matt Slater,
New York Times,
23 May 2026
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In an even more meta moment, Amazon interrupted its own Upfront with actual ads with Summer House star Paige DeSorbo flogging certain items to an increasingly frustrated audience.—
Peter White,
Deadline,
11 May 2026
Verb
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In the run-up to the elections, Russia upped pressure on its ally by slapping import bans on Armenian products, including fresh fruit, flowers and spirits.—
Nathan Hodge,
CNN Money,
8 June 2026
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Home plate umpire Dan Iassogna called a third strike, but Madrigal argued with the umpire, emphatically slapping his head.—
Liana Handler,
Los Angeles Times,
7 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Flagellating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flagellating. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
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