Meanings
present singular third person excoriates · participle present excoriating · participle past excoriated · past excoriated
- figurativelytransitiveTo strongly condemn or criticize.
The teacher continued to excoriate the student after his academic issues.
4 more examples
Madeleina di Farja had described Ori, and Cutter had envisaged an angry, frantic, pugnacious boy eager to fight, excoriating his comrades for supposed quiescence.
2004, China Miéville, Iron Council, Trade paperback edition, published 2005, →ISBN, page 464Mr. Green, a former city public advocate and candidate for mayor in 2001, ran ads excoriating Mr. Cuomo’s ethics.
2006 September 13, Patrick Healy, “Spitzer and Clinton Win in N.Y. Primary”, in New York TimesThe tabloids branded him forevermore as the “love rat,” and Pasternak was excoriated for peddling mawkish fantasy.
2022 April 5, Tina Brown, “How Princess Diana’s Dance With the Media Impacted William and Harry”, in Vanity FairPolice are under pressure to accelerate the criminal investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire after an excoriating report found that companies operated with “systematic dishonesty” and that all 72 deaths were avoidable.
2024 September 4, Robert Booth, Emine Sinmaz, “Police under pressure to accelerate criminal investigation into Grenfell fire”, in The GuardianSynonyms: denounce, disparage, reprobate, tear a strip off, criticize, criticise
comparative more excoriate · superlative most excoriate
- obsoleteExcoriated.
If the bowelles be excoriate, ye shall gyue thys peculier remedy.
c. 1543, Thomas Phaer, translation of Jean Goëvrot's Regiment of Lyfe
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo remove the skin and/or fur of, to flay, to skin.
verbTo strongly condemn or criticize.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinexcoriātus
- Middle English*excoriaten
- Englishexcoriate
First attested in the first part of the 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English *excoriaten (only attested in its past participle), borrowed from Late Latin excoriātus perfect passive participle of excoriō (“to take the skin or hide off, flay, skin”), from ex- (“out off, from”) + corium (“hide, skin”) + -ō. Regular participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English, later archaic.
More words from Middle English, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian одирам, обелвам
- одирам (odiram)to wear off the skin of
- обелвам (obelvam)to wear off the skin of
Catalan excoriar, condemnar
- excoriarto wear off the skin of
- condemnarto strongly denounce or censure
- censurarto strongly denounce or censure
- reprovarto strongly denounce or censure
Chinese Mandarin 擦破皮膚 /擦破皮肤, 苛責 /苛责
- 擦破皮膚 /擦破皮肤 (cā pò pífū)to wear off the skin of
- 苛責 /苛责 (kēzé)to strongly denounce or censure
- 痛斥 (tòngchì)to strongly denounce or censure
- 叱責 /叱责 (chìzé)to strongly denounce or censure
Czech sedřít, stáhnout
- sedřítto wear off the skin of
- stáhnoutto wear off the skin of
- ztrhatto strongly denounce or censure
Danish fordømme, hudflette
- fordømmeto strongly denounce or censure
- hudfletteto strongly denounce or censure
Dutch schrammen
- schrammento wear off the skin of
Finnish hiertää, haukkua pataluhaksi
- hiertääto wear off the skin of
- haukkua pataluhaksito strongly denounce or censure
- ripittääto strongly denounce or censure
- sättiäto strongly denounce or censure
French excorier, fustiger
- excorierto wear off the skin of
- fustigerto strongly denounce or censure
German abschürfen, abscheuern
- abschürfento wear off the skin of
- abscheuernto wear off the skin of
- wund reibento wear off the skin of
- scharf verurteilento strongly denounce or censure
- vernichtend kritisierento strongly denounce or censure
- mit vernichtender Kritik überziehento strongly denounce or censure
- kein gutes Haar lassen anto strongly denounce or censure
Hungarian horzsol, felhorzsol
- horzsolto wear off the skin of
- felhorzsolto wear off the skin of
- feldörzsölto wear off the skin of
- kidörzsölto wear off the skin of
- felsebezto wear off the skin of
- lehorzsolto wear off the skin of
- ostorozto strongly denounce or censure
- élesen bírálto strongly denounce or censure
- lehordto strongly denounce or censure
- ledorongolto strongly denounce or censure
- lesújtó / megsemmisítő kritikával illetto strongly denounce or censure
Italian escoriare
- escoriareto wear off the skin of
Latin excoriō, excoriō
- excoriōto wear off the skin of
- excoriōto strongly denounce or censure
Māori whakakinokino, whakatapitapi
- whakakinokinoto strongly denounce or censure
- whakatapitapito strongly denounce or censure
Norwegian hudflette
- hudfletteto strongly denounce or censure
Norwegian Bokmål hudflette
- hudfletteto wear off the skin of
Portuguese escoriar
- escoriarto wear off the skin of
Russian сса́живать, сдира́ть ко́жу
- сса́живать (ssáživatʹ)to wear off the skin of
- сдира́ть ко́жу (sdirátʹ kóžu)to wear off the skin of
- разноси́ть (raznosítʹ)to strongly denounce or censure
- поноси́ть (ponosítʹ)to strongly denounce or censure
- громи́ть (gromítʹ)to strongly denounce or censure
Scottish Gaelic rùisg
- rùisgto wear off the skin of
Spanish excoriar, fustigar
- excoriarto wear off the skin of
- fustigarto strongly denounce or censure
Welsh treulio, rhwbio
- treulioto wear off the skin of
- rhwbioto wear off the skin of
- rhwtoto wear off the skin of
- fflangelluto strongly denounce or censure
- llachioto strongly denounce or censure
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
excoriate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excoriate
“excoriate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excoriate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “excoriate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excoriate.
Source: excoriate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.