excoriate

From Late Latin excoriātus, perfect participle of Latin excoriō (“take the skin or hide off, flay”), from ex (“off”) + corium (“hide, skin”).

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈskɔɹ.iˌeɪt/, /ɪkˈskoʊɹ.iˌeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

excoriate (third-person singular simple present excoriates, present participle excoriating, simple past and past participle excoriated)

1. (transitive) to remove the skin and/or fur of, to flay, to skin

   Synonym: excarnate

2. (transitive) To wear off the skin of; to chafe.

   Synonyms: abrade, chafe, flay

3. (transitive, figuratively) To strongly condemn or criticize.

   Synonyms: denounce, disparage, reprobate, tear a strip off, criticize, criticise

   The teacher continued to excoriate the student after his academic issues.

   • 2004, China Miéville, Iron Council, Trade paperback edition, published 2005, →ISBN, page 464:

     Madeleina di Farja had described Ori, and Cutter had envisaged an angry, frantic, pugnacious boy eager to fight, excoriating his comrades for supposed quiescence.

   • 2006 September 13, Patrick Healy, “Spitzer and Clinton Win in N.Y. Primary”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Mr. Green, a former city public advocate and candidate for mayor in 2001, ran ads excoriating Mr. Cuomo’s ethics.

   • 2022 April 5, Tina Brown, “How Princess Diana’s Dance With the Media Impacted William and Harry”, in Vanity Fair‎^[2]:

     The tabloids branded him forevermore as the “love rat,” and Pasternak was excoriated for peddling mawkish fantasy.

     adapted from the book The Palace Papers, published 2022 by Penguin Books

   • 2024 September 4, Robert Booth, Emine Sinmaz, “Police under pressure to accelerate criminal investigation into Grenfell fire”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     Police are under pressure to accelerate the criminal investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire after an excoriating report found that companies operated with “systematic dishonesty” and that all 72 deaths were avoidable.

• excoriator
• excoriation

• exoterica

excoriāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of excoriō

excoriate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of excoriar combined with te