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YOUR VOCABULARY, ONE WORD AT A TIME

Excoriate

Verb

IPA /ɪkˈskɔːrieɪt/

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Meaning in plain English

To criticise someone or something very harshly, often by pointing out serious faults or failures in an angry way.

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Pronunciation

Excoriate/ɪkˈskɔːrieɪt/

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  1. Serious failures are exposed

  2. A very harsh public criticism

To excoriate is to criticise with great severity.

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  1. The journalist excoriated the government’s response as slow and incompetent.
  2. The reviewer excoriated the report for its careless use of evidence.

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To criticise someone or something very harshly, often by pointing out serious faults or failures in an angry way.
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Excoriate — To criticise someone or something very harshly, often by pointing out serious faults or failures in an angry way.

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To criticise someone or something very harshly, often by pointing out serious faults or failures in an angry way.

Compare: The journalist excoriated the government’s response as slow and incompetent.

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Word origin

From Latin excoriare, meaning "to strip off the skin," from ex- ("out") + corium ("skin").

Did you know?

Excoriate also has a medical meaning: to damage or wear away the surface of the skin.

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Excoriate

/ɪkˈskɔːrieɪt/ (Verb)

“Excoriate is formal and much stronger than criticise. It suggests very harsh criticism.”

englishskillstudio.com