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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It was delivered by the 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama, whose torso uncorked in a fit of frustration that sent his right elbow whipping toward Reid’s windpipe like a torpedo bat flying through the strike zone.—
Jon Krawczynski,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
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That abundance of tall buildings also contributes to the city’s famous wind, which was really whipping all four days of our visit.—
Jess Fleming,
Twin Cities,
7 May 2026
Verb
-
There are a lot of little extras hiding in cupboards or around the corner.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
14 May 2026
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The entire operation was hiding in plain sight, neighbors said.—
Allen Devlin,
CBS News,
13 May 2026
Verb
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With the center unavailable on Pavel Mintyukov’s first-period slashing penalty against Vegas star Mitch Marner, rookie Tim Washe played with both Killorn and Granlund.—
Eric Stephens,
New York Times,
13 May 2026
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David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images General Motors is slashing hundreds of salaried information technology employees in a bid to cut costs.—
Alex Harring,
CNBC,
12 May 2026
Verb
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The whole episode, Kyle is a pendulum swinging between anger and sadness, between lashing out and injuring Amanda, and looking to be the victim.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
13 May 2026
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San José Mayor Matt Mahan started off the debate by lashing out at both Republicans and Democrats.—
Seema Mehta,
Los Angeles Times,
7 May 2026
Verb
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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
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This could be the bookworm equivalent of jet setting, perhaps—seeking out the places we’re taken to while flicking the pages.—
Connor Sturges,
Condé Nast Traveler,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The Wild turned a corner scrum on the Avs’ side of the ice into a loose puck in front of Wedgie’s crease, and Minnesota’s Marcus Johansson slipped it past the Avs’ flailing netminder to trim the deficit to 3-1.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
4 May 2026
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While fans had long been advocating for Bravo to recruit Hubbard to save a flailing RHONY, the network instead is launching a Valley-esque spinoff led by Hubbard, Kyle Cook, and Amanda Batula called In the City.—
Tom Smyth,
Vulture,
4 May 2026
Verb
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White-Jacket did cause a stir with its discussion of the arbitrary and cruel use of flogging in the US Navy.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
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Examples include a husband having the legal right to restrict his wife’s travel and employment, unequal divorce rights and punishment for appearing in public without a hijab ranging from fines to prison time to flogging.—
Ellie Austin,
Fortune,
21 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Among the plaintiffs, two protesters faced minor charges that were quickly dropped—each accused of impeding a federal officer for slapping the agent’s phone from their hand—while the other two were charged with no crimes at all.—
Ashley Belanger,
ArsTechnica,
7 May 2026
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That meant a pre-existing zero-tariff trade environment for exporters on both sides of the Atlantic was overridden, slapping new duties onto Scotch whisky and other spirits sent to America from Britain.—
Chloe Taylor,
CNBC,
1 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Flagellating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flagellating. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
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