Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To tear or wear off the skin of; abrade. See Synonyms at chafe.
- v. To censure strongly; denounce: an editorial that excoriated the administration for its inaction.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To flay; strip off the skin of.
- Hence To abrade; gall; break and remove the outer layers of (the skin) in any manner.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To wear off the skin of; to chafe or flay.
- v. transitive To strongly denounce or censure.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. 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.
WordNet 3.0
- v. express strong disapproval of
- v. tear or wear off the skin or make sore by abrading
Etymologies
- From Late Latin excoriātus, perfect participle of Latin excoriō ("take the skin or hide off, flay"). from ex ("off") + corium ("hide, skin"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English excoriaten, from Latin excoriāre, excoriāt- : ex-, ex- + corium, skin; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“So perhaps the best advice for those who want to justify this or claim that others are being too militant and yes, some are likely being too pushy and thus come across as being little more than mirror images of those they want to excoriate is to just stop settling and just continue exploring.”
I'm Perfectly Happy with My Reading Habits, Even If You Aren't
“It is completely illogical to assume that being ashamed and having your school "excoriate" you will be motivational in any way.”
“excoriate" the UN's peacekeeping mission in Congo.”
“We excoriate President Obama because we expect more from him.”
NRCC targets Obama for saying Cambridge cop 'acted stupidly'
“There are responsibilities to be avoided, party menus to plan, businessmen to excoriate - which leaves precious little time for golf, FYI.”
“But I suspect most pro-life people would willingly swap the lives of the babies for the insensitivity: feel free to excoriate us but don't sign the executive order at all.”
“If all the clowns who excoriate Keynes just because some ignorant dogmatist told them to, would actually go read the General Theory (which is exceptionally lucidly written), perhaps they might begin to understand why.”
Matthew Yglesias » “Taking Money From One Place and Giving it To Another Place”
“What entertains me even more are comments like Will's above, that excoriate people for having a mixed or nuanced opinion of a film.”
“I find it rather funny that you racists know they are catholic but excoriate them as godless heathens anyways.”
Think Progress » Arizona militia recruiting veterans with ‘kill records’ to patrol border.
“Ben Franklin would excoriate them with savage wit,”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘excoriate’.
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Words
phantasmagoria, eviscerate, avast, simulacrum, varicose, oblique, gestalt, ersatz, vernal, vivace, stellate, synecdoche and 330 more...
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phrontistery - e
from phrontistery.info
ephod, epact, eozoic, eonism, ensiform, ensanguine, enoptromancy, enounce, enosimania, ennomic, enneagon, eolith and 616 more...
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POL - executive
Terms used for and by entities with executive power
forge a coalition..., head of state, head of government, public administra..., beef up the infor..., devolution, streamline state ..., back out of sg, break a pledge, excoriate, executive committee, implement the agr... and 99 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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New words
new words or spelling issues
voluble, Metagrobolize, salubrious, calumny, fugacity, withdrawal, bourse, hypertrophy, leitmotif, argot, improvident, damask and 241 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2053 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 569 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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Citicize/Criticism
belittle, berate, calumny, castigate, decry, defamation, disparage, excoriate, gainsay, harangue, impugn, inveigh and 9 more...
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Vocabulary
Words I come across while reading.
talus, echelon, onanistic, cabochon, avocation, charnel, moue, portentous, prolixity, astringent, hoary, patina and 165 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
alacrity, prosaic, veracity, paucity, contrite, trite, maintain, laconic, pugnacious, disparate, egregious, innocuous and 533 more...
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Naresh_Gre
The path meanders through the vineyards
meander, labyrinth, Sinuous, gyrate, caron, awry, credo, banter, juxtaposition, argot, inexorable, foibles and 223 more...
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Eazy E
motley, callous, languid, copious, dubious, contemptible, disparage, sporadic, gratuitous, disillusioned, conflagration, concordance and 99 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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litigious semantics
ad unguem, abeyance, choleric, contentious, curmudgeonly, churlish, dictatorial, vindictive, dogmatic, truculent, mutinous, refractory and 254 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for excoriate.
skipvia Partial rhyme with decorate. Other than that, I don't know why it popped into my head. See Free Association. Feb 4, 2008