Make Your Point > Archived Issues > EXCORIATE
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Back in tenth grade or so, when my nose was constantly buried in books of SAT vocabulary, I was stunned by just how many grand-sounding synonyms there are for criticize, denounce, and reproach.
It's an arsenal of terms that boggles the mind, an arsenal that Mark, a reader, once described as a p_n_ply, or a complete and magnificent set (originally, a full suit of armor).
We've looked at several of these harsh terms together:
1. To ca_____te people is to punish them with words.
2. To vi___erate is to use harsh, mean words to criticize people or things.
3. To la_____e people is to scold them harshly, as if you're beating them with words.
Today we're adding to that list an extra-vicious word: excoriate.
Taken literally, excoriate ("to remove the skin") is pretty icky, the same kind of icky as our word e____erate ("to remove the vital organs"). Both can mean "to inflict an extremely harsh wound with words."
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"EXCORIATE"
This word has Latin roots that mean "to strip off the hide or skin."
To excoriate people and things literally is to strip off their skin. And to excoriate people and things figuratively is to talk so harshly about how bad they are that it's as if you're stripping off their skin.
Pronunciation:
ex CORE ee ate
Part of speech:
Verb, the transitive kind: "the media excoriated the actor."
Other forms:
excoriated, excoriating, excoriation, excoriatingly
How to use it:
Save this extremely harsh word for the absolute worst, absolute most vicious verbal reprimands, whether they are deserved or not.
Say that one person or group excoriates another, usually for some bad deed (or for failing to do something good): "they excoriated him for his cruelty," "they excoriated the local government for ignoring its neediest citizens."
Although it's usually people who get excoriated, you can also excoriate motives, decisions, actions, statements, documents, and so on.
A handy adjective is "excoriating," meaning "wielding the power to excoriate." Talk about excoriating comments, attacks, criticism, judgments, humor, posts, articles, facial expressions, etc.
examples:
"The most powerful moment in Nassar’s court proceedings came in the form of his victims’ blistering confrontation of the man who had gotten away with so much for so long. Woman after woman rose in a Michigan courtroom to excoriate the disgraced physician."
— Monica Hesse, Washington Post, 11 August 2019
"[Walt Whitman] was rejected by publishers and excoriated by critics (one called him 'trashy, profane and obscene') but that didn’t stop him from pressing on."
— Kera Bolonik, Poetry Foundation, 6 August 2013
has this page helped you understand "excoriate"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "excoriate" without saying "flay" or "tear into."
try it out:
Often, we're our own harshest critics: "He excoriated himself for losing the game;" "She excoriated herself for making such a stupid error."
You might talk about a time you excoriated yourself for doing something careless, selfish, or hurtful.
Or, if you're in the habit of being kind to yourself--and I hope you are--talk about a time when, instead of excoriating yourself, you forgave yourself, you learned something valuable, or you found a way to do better next time.
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
Our game this month: Anagrams!
Rearrange the letters in the given word to form a word we've studied before. Try to recall its meaning, too.
For example, if I give you DYED, you give me EDDY. If I give you THREAD, you give me DEARTH. And if I give you COTERIES, you give me ESOTERIC.
Try this one today: DECANT.
Give yourself 5 points if you can figure out the word without clues. To reveal the clues, hover over the blue text below.
Give yourself 4 points if you figure it out after peeking at the part of speech: Adjective.
Give yourself 3 points if you figure it out after peeking at the definition: having a nice, rhythmic sound (or a nice, rhythmic movement).
Give yourself 2 points if you figure it out after peeking at the first letter: C.
Give yourself 1 point if you figure it out after peeking at the first two letters: CA.
And if you'd like to reveal or review the word, click here.
review this word:
1. One opposite of EXCORIATING is
A. SNIDE.
B. PURIFYING.
C. COMMENDATORY.
2. For _____, McDonald's has been rightfully excoriated.
A. randomly removing the McRib from the menu
B. preaching health and nutrition while serving meals devoid of either
C. pretending the Shamrock Shake is anything more than vanilla ice cream with green food coloring
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Back in tenth grade or so, when my nose was constantly buried in books of SAT vocabulary, I was stunned by just how many grand-sounding synonyms there are for criticize, denounce, and reproach.
"EXCORIATE" This word has Latin roots that mean "to strip off the hide or skin."
"The most powerful moment in Nassar’s court proceedings came in the form of his victims’ blistering confrontation of the man who had gotten away with so much for so long. Woman after woman rose in a Michigan courtroom to excoriate the disgraced physician."
Explain the meaning of "excoriate" without saying "flay" or "tear into."
Often, we're our own harshest critics: "He excoriated himself for losing the game;" "She excoriated herself for making such a stupid error."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. One opposite of EXCORIATING is
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