How to Use pillory in a Sentence

pillory

1 of 2 noun
  • The 4% rule has drawn praise and pillory for years.
    — Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2025
  • The 4% rule has drawn praise and pillory for years.
    — Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 17 May 2026
  • He was fined, endured public humiliation in a pillory and was then thrown in prison.
    — Roger J. Kreuz, The Conversation, 15 Sep. 2020
  • Scaffolds, gallows, stocks, pillories, whips, and birch rods are or could be modulations.
    — John Ganz, Harper's Magazine, 22 May 2024
  • Game of Thrones is back for a victory lap (that might end up being more of a Shame Nun-style pillory).
    — Peter Rubin, WIRED, 17 July 2019
  • The pillory for hosts restarting production in defiance of their writers’ picket lines is getting crowded.
    — James Poniewozik, New York Times, 18 Sep. 2023
  • Witch City Walking Tours shared pictures from the trip, which also featured a broom-making class and a chance to pose in the pillories.
    — Marina Watts, Peoplemag, 17 Aug. 2024
  • On a plaza outside the courthouse, anti-billionaire demonstrators set up props most days to pillory either Musk, Altman or both.
    — David Ingram, NBC news, 15 May 2026
  • She’s forced into vacating her post, and takes to long days of binge-drinking and doom-scrolling as threatening male social media incels pillory her reputation after the details of her lawsuit against Tinder are leaked.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Matters culminated in a large crowd gathering at Haymarket Square, where several labor activists rose to make pro-labor speeches and pillory the McCormick conflict.
    — Michael Peregrine, Chicago Tribune, 4 May 2026
  • The Roots of Humiliation Long before the internet, people who violated moral codes in a society would get fastened to a pillar, stocks or pillory, a device in which the offender’s head and hands were locked in a wooden frame.
    — Tree Meinch, Discover Magazine, 12 Feb. 2021

pillory

2 of 2 verb
  • The press pilloried the judge for her decision.
  • At the time, this movie was pilloried by most critics.
    — Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 24 June 2026
  • Musk was pilloried by the woke crowd for making this an issue.
    — Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
  • The eight clergy have been pilloried in history for their stance.
    — Greg Garrison, AL.com, 16 Apr. 2018
  • As word of the pardons has spread, Bevin has been pilloried on social media.
    — Joseph Gerth, The Courier-Journal, 13 Dec. 2019
  • Meanwhile women are pilloried for spending the same amount on a handbag.
    — Jennifer Wright, Harper's BAZAAR, 8 Feb. 2018
  • Michelle Obama was both praised and pilloried for her sensible shoes.
    — Bonnie Wertheim, New York Times, 16 Dec. 2017
  • The study, posted as a preprint on April 17, has been pilloried non-stop.
    — David H. Freedman, Wired, 1 May 2020
  • Whatever her plan had been, Madonna was pilloried in the press and by some of the other artists in the hall.
    — Mary Gabriel, Rolling Stone, 27 Sep. 2023
  • As more retailers have followed suit, trend pieces have been quick to dub card-only payment the next big thing and to pillory cash as dead.
    — Polly Mosendz, Bloomberg.com, 8 May 2017
  • His lawyers have offered relatively little in the way of riposte—and have been pilloried for it.
    — WIRED, 20 Oct. 2023
  • Fallon, who did not ask one substantive question of his guest, was pilloried for the interview at the time.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 26 June 2018
  • Still, at the outset of the race, some Democrats viewed Youngkin as a candidate who would be easy to pillory.
    — Dan Merica and Eric Bradner, CNN, 30 Oct. 2021
  • He was relentlessly pilloried, mocked, and distorted in the press for it.
    — Rich Lowry, National Review, 19 Apr. 2020
  • Dem leadership has been pilloried by Dem voters for rolling over and not standing up to Trump.
    — Carlo Versano, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
  • And for their opposition they were pilloried — even threatened — by members of their own party.
    — Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News, 17 Aug. 2017
  • Moynihan, hardly a racist, was pilloried for his insights and driven out of government.
    — Fred Siegel, National Review, 9 Jan. 2020
  • Sometimes, people could be beaten to death or severely hurt by the rocks and other objects thrown at them while they were pilloried.
    — Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 31 July 2017
  • Instead of being commended for those signs of progress, United has been pilloried.
    — David Koenig, miamiherald, 27 Apr. 2017
  • Democrats seem stunned when their GOP opponents pillory them with lies, rage and ad hominem attacks.
    — Robert B. Reich, Star Tribune, 17 Aug. 2020
  • Muhammad Ali was the greatest boxer in the world, and he was still pilloried by the public, stripped of his title, and exiled.
    — Jonathan Eig, Slate Magazine, 26 Sep. 2017
  • Pavone was also pilloried in the press for placing the fetus on an altar, even by those who would normally count themselves among his allies.
    — Nicholas Rowan, Washington Examiner, 24 Apr. 2020
  • Toronto taxed Dodgers ace Blake Snell and pilloried his replacements.
    — Andy McCullough, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Harris and Kouvelas-Edick say they've been pilloried by their neighbors.
    — Lily Altavena, azcentral, 7 July 2018
  • Later today, the group is scheduled to hold a press conference pillorying Ryan’s plan.
    — Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker, 7 Mar. 2017
  • As an 18-year-old, Bedard was pilloried for having a minus-44 rating.
    — Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2026
  • If an athlete's play suffers like Irving's did, he or she can be pilloried by voices who simply don't know the full circumstances.
    — Ben Golliver, courant.com, 30 Sep. 2019
  • But those who voted for a non-binding pro-ICE resolution have been pilloried for it.
    — David Weigel, semafor.com, 18 May 2026
  • Brexit that would keep Britain in the single market, like Norway, is pilloried as no Brexit at all.
    — The Economist, 4 July 2019
  • The acerbic toon has aired more than 330 episodes and pilloried scores of subjects and celebrities since its 1997 launch.
    — Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 19 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pillory.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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