excoriate

verb

ex·​co·​ri·​ate ek-ˈskȯr-ē-ˌāt 

excoriated; excoriating

transitive verb

1

: to wear off the skin of : abrade

2

: to censure scathingly

excoriation

(ˌ)ek-ˌskȯr-ē-ˈā-shən 

noun

Did you know?

Excoriate, which first appeared in English in the 15th century, comes from "excoriatus," the past participle of the Late Latin verb excoriare, meaning "to strip off the hide." "Excoriare" was itself formed from a pairing of the Latin prefix ex-, meaning "out," and corium, meaning "skin" or "hide" or "leather." "Corium" has several other descendants in English. One is "cuirass," a name for a piece of armor that covers the body from neck to waist (or something, such as bony plates covering an animal, that resembles such armor). Another is "corium" itself, which is sometimes used as a synonym of "dermis" (the inner layer of human skin).

Synonyms

• abuse
• assail
• attack
• bash
• belabor
• blast
• castigate
• jump (on)
• lambaste
• lambast
• potshot
• savage
• scathe
• slam
• trash
• vituperate

Examples of excoriate in a Sentence

He was excoriated as a racist.

The candidates have publicly excoriated each other throughout the campaign.

Recent Examples on the Web

The argument has, at times, sounded outright offensive; Ramaswamy, for instance, justified his preference for cheap foreign labor by excoriating American culture itself. —David Faris, Newsweek, 27 Dec. 2024

Her long record as a foreign policy dissident under both Democratic and Republican presidents will give Senate hawks plenty to scrutinize — and, perhaps, to excoriate. —Doyle McManus, The Mercury News, 7 Dec. 2024

The presidential victor will be showered in praise while the loser will be excoriated — no matter how close the election turns out to be. —Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 5 Nov. 2024

While the two sides have excoriated each other and launched public recriminations that sound almost scripted for journalists to write about, their legal disagreement is far less dramatic. —Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 30 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Late Latin excoriatus, past participle of excoriare, from Latin ex- + corium skin, hide — more at cuirass

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

excoriate

verb

ex·​co·​ri·​ate ek-ˈskōr-ē-āt 

-ˈskȯr-

excoriated; excoriating

: to criticize very severely

excoriation

(ˌ)ek-ˌskōr-ē-ˈā-shən 

-ˌskȯr-

noun