Find the word definition

Crossword clues for excoriate

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
excoriate
verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ The Boston Globe excoriated the first American exhibition, calling it a hotbed of Bolshevism.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Excoriate

Excoriate \Ex*co"ri*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Excoriated; p. pr. & vb. n. excoriating.] [L. excoriare; ex out + corium hide. cf. Scourge; see Cuirass.] To strip or wear off the skin of; to abrade; to gall; to break and remove the cuticle of, in any manner, as by rubbing, beating, or by the action of acrid substances.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
excoriate

early 15c., from Late Latin excoriatus, past participle of excoriare "flay, strip off the hide," from Latin ex- "off" (see ex-) + corium "hide, skin" (see corium). Figurative sense of "denounce, censure" first recorded in English 1708. Related: Excoriated; excoriating.

Wiktionary
excoriate

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To wear off the skin of; to chafe or flay. 2 (context transitive English) To strongly denounce or censure.

WordNet
excoriate
  1. v. express strong disapproval of; "We condemn the racism in South Africa"; "These ideas were reprobated" [syn: condemn, reprobate, decry, objurgate]

  2. tear or wear off the skin or make sore by abrading; "This leash chafes the dog's neck" [syn: chafe]

Usage examples of "excoriate".

In the afternoon the auditory canal was found excoriated and red, and deep in the meatus the kernel was found, covered with blood.

Nor must it be forgotten that sermons, like plays, are addressed to a mixed audience of families, and that the spiritual teachings of a lifetime may be destroyed by ten minutes of uncensored pronouncement from a pulpit, the while parents are sitting, not, as in a theatre vested with the right of protest, but dumb and excoriated to the soul, watching their children, perhaps of tender age, eagerly drinking in words at variance with that which they themselves have been at such pains to instil.

It discharges a thin, bloody matter which is sometimes very fetid and acrid, and excoriates the tissues if it comes in contact with them.

In advanced cases the Larnyx is usually much congested, being constantly irritated, not only reflexly through the nervous system, but directly by the inspired air, and excoriating discharges dropping in the throat from behind the palate.

He had excoriated the train then, as an example of the deranged values of government-dominated society, a costly boondoggle, a holdover of pre-millennial thinking.

In almost daily attacks in the Aurora, Adams was belittled as “The President by Three Votes,” mocked again as “His Rotundity,” excoriated as a base hypocrite, a tool of the British, “a man divested of his senses.

In almost daily attacks in the Aurora, Adams was belittled as "The President by Three Votes," mocked again as "His Rotundity," excoriated as a base hypocrite, a tool of the British, "a man divested of his senses.

The fetters of the Greeks have been struck off, but the blains and excoriated marks of slavery are still conspicuous upon them.

She handed out the teacups, and as Spencer came in and had the story told to him, she got a robe and draped it over Michel's shoulders, excoriating herself for the miserable timing of her assault on him.

That was a mistake, a retreat, and Maya stood back up and used the time to castigate the rest of them in a tearing whisper for their stupidity-and then, when she had controlled her temper a little, to argue the case for biding their time, the excoriating edge of her anger just under the surface of a rational plea for patience and intention and control, an argument that was essentially unanswerable.

She handed out the teacups, and as Spencer came in and had the story told to him, she got a robe and draped it over Michel’s shoulders, excoriating herself for the miserable timing of her assault on him.

That was a mistake, a retreat, and Maya stood back up and used the time to castigate the rest of them in a tearing whisper for their stupidity—and then, when she had controlled her temper a little, to argue the case for biding their time, the excoriating edge of her anger just under the surface of a rational plea for patience and intention and control, an argument that was essentially unanswerable.

With curiosity, astonishment, and alarm Joseph had heard Plinio excoriating all authority, everything that was held sacred in Castalia.

It had begun with politics, with Pravati's passionate speech excoriating his fear of sinning and love of peace, almost openly calling all that cowardice.

The mere word was anathema to him, and he stormed back and forth in excoriating condemnation, shaking a piercing finger of rebuke in the guilt-ridden faces of Colonel Cathcart, Colonel Korn and the poor battle-scarred captain with the submachine gun who commanded the M.