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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).
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Examples of excoriate in a Sentence
Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 16 June 2024
Elsewhere, in the hills, an Apache chief excoriates the leader of the war party, Pionsenay (Owen Crow Shoe), for what he’s done.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 20 May 2024
In its recent effort to retake the Syrian town of al-Bab from ISIS, moreover, Turkey has accepted air support from key Assad ally Russia, while publicly excoriating its traditional ally in Syria, the United States, for its lack of assistance.
—Nussaibah Younis, Foreign Affairs, 27 Jan. 2017
During a 2019 debate, Mr. Biden, then a candidate running against Mr. Trump for the first time, excoriated his rival’s policies.
—Hamed Aleaziz, New York Times, 4 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for excoriate 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'excoriate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Excoriate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/excoriate. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
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excoriate
verb
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