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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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
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In baseball news, Screencaps the III got his very first legitimate hit of the season by lacing one over the second baseman's head last night with winds whipping 20-25 mph off Lake Erie.—
Joe Kinsey OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
22 May 2026
Verb
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Howard’s eagle eyes spotted so many animals hiding in the bush and from great distances.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
3 June 2026
-
However, the Knicks have done a good job of hiding him.—
David Troy OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
3 June 2026
Verb
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The man then raised up the stick and struck the church-going victim in the head before slashing her neck.—
Kerry Burke,
New York Daily News,
2 June 2026
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The energy regulator signed off on the preferential electricity tariff for Glencore’s local venture and Samancor Chrome, slashing power prices by over 50% from the standard baseline.—
Tiisetso Motsoeneng,
semafor.com,
1 June 2026
Verb
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Putin is lashing out by intensifying assaults on civilian targets, especially in the capital city of Kyiv.—
Steve Forbes,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2026
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Goldschmidt, lashing through the unhittable delivery, just stood in dismay.—
Mitch Bannon,
New York Times,
26 May 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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Everton’s hopes of securing a first win at Old Trafford since 2013 seemed over when midfielder Idrissa Gueye was sent off in the 13th minute for slapping team-mate Michael Keane.—
Patrick Boyland,
New York Times,
27 May 2026
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Video from the incident shows Shields slapping Baumgardner's hand to punctuate a heated exchange.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
22 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Flagellating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flagellating. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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