Dictionary.com Word Of The Day
Feb. 21, 2017
excoriate\ik-SKAWR-ee-eyt, -SKOHR-\verb
1. to denounce or berate severely; flay verbally: He was excoriated for
his mistakes.
2. to strip off or remove the skin from: Her palms were excoriated by
the hard labor of shoveling.
QuotesJonathan Swift once observed, âSatire is a sort of glass,
wherein beholders do generally discover everybodyâs face but their
own,â and so it might be charged, too, of satirists who excoriate
others while exempting themselves from blame.
-- Joyce Carol Oates, "Showtime," The New Yorker, October 27, 2003
Origin of excoriateIn Latin the verb excoriÄre meant only âto
strip the skin, bark, shellâ (it also had an obscene sense). The
modern sense âto denounce, upbraidâ arose in English in the late
19th century. Excoriate in its Latin senses entered English in the late
15th century.More From Dictionary.comSubmit a favorite word for a
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