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

Upton, who was excoriated by Trump and other Republicans for his vote, did not run for reelection in 2022 after his district was merged with another member's, U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Holland Township. —Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press, 24 Oct. 2024

This October, ProPublica visited Thoma-Sea again, one month after the OSHA report excoriated the company for not protecting Pérez. —Nicole Foy, ProPublica, 22 Oct. 2024

That assessment could have been applied to other reality-TV judges, on shows such as America’s Next Top Model, The Apprentice, The Biggest Loser—and there’s no shortage of clips in which a host excoriates a young participant over something trivial. —Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic, 15 Oct. 2024

Newsom is also the only Democrat to use his own campaign money for TV commercials backing Democrats and excoriating Republicans in red states like Alabama and Florida. —Thomas Elias, The Mercury News, 6 July 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