excoriating

verb

present participle of excoriate
1
as in attacking
to criticize harshly and usually publicly the mayor had hardly been in office for a month before she was being excoriated for problems of very long standing

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2
as in irritating
to make sore by continued rubbing the manacles had badly excoriated the prisoner's wrists

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of excoriating The beat resumed, the volume its usual excoriating self, Shields’ guitar reprogrammed to give a hint of body-moving swing. — Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 28 Nov. 2025 William Hall, who represents Chatham, from excoriating the company. — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 6 May 2026 Hannah Einbinder brings vulnerability to a project that needs her brand of self-excoriating fearlessness. — Joshua Rothkopf, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2026 The president often has chosen a combative approach, even excoriating Democrats during the bipartisan prayer breakfast this year, Upton noted. — Zac Anderson, USA Today, 21 Feb. 2026 And she’s proven a popular voice on social media, where a recent TikTok video excoriating the Supreme Court decision on voting rights drew more than 19 million views. — Aidan McLaughlin, Vanity Fair, 21 May 2026 The famous detective novelist and screenwriter had written an essay for the magazine excoriating the motion-picture industry and its tolerance for—indeed celebration of—mindless mediocrity. — Jake Lundberg, The Atlantic, 13 Mar. 2026 National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya raised these points when excoriating siblings studies on social media in September. — O. Rose Broderick, STAT, 16 Jan. 2026 At a parliamentary hearing in 2023, MPs asked the former minister of state for development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, a series of excoriating questions about its decision to invest taxpayer money in companies accused of human rights breaches, including the Nairobi Women’s Hospital. — Hettie O'Brien, The Dial, 21 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for excoriating
  1. attacking
  2. irritating
  3. slamming
  4. scratching
  5. scolding
  6. scraping
  7. criticizing
Verb
  • Electing to keep his No 5 on the field, the Brazil head coach made a subtle tactical tweak that saw Endrick enter the action and brought Matheus Cunha further to the left flank — which unlocked the attacking prowess of Vinicius Junior.
    — Mark Carey, New York Times, 6 July 2026
  • In patients with type 1 diabetes, the immune system starts attacking the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 6 July 2026
Definition of attacking
Verb
  • Unanswered workplace messages are a common, irritating phenomenon, often perceived as deliberate avoidance despite recipients being active elsewhere.
    — Benjamin Laker, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
  • Morales turns another character who can be irritating into one whose lot, and whose needs, demands attention.
    — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 29 June 2026
Definition of irritating
Verb
  • Prosecutors allege Clay intentionally drove his car onto the sidewalk, sped toward a crowd of pedestrians and hit eight of them before slamming into a gate.
    — Jason Green, Mercury News, 7 July 2026
  • Paul has accused Mortensen in court of stalking and, on one occasion, slamming her head into the dashboard of his truck.
    — Luke Chinman, PEOPLE, 1 July 2026
Definition of slamming
Verb
  • In a game not known for high scores, the pace of goals in this World Cup has left some fans scratching their heads.
    — Ashley Mowreader, NBC news, 3 July 2026
  • In April, when Rojas got news that his father had been rushed to the hospital, Roberts quickly took the decision on whether to play out of Rojas’ hands, scratching him from the lineup.
    — Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 28 June 2026
Definition of scratching
Verb
  • Soon though, Shawna noticed some of Zaayer's strange behaviors — including scolding her grandson, getting upset over cleaning habits and allegedly showing them racist videos.
    — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 3 July 2026
  • Justice Barrett actually sounded kind of sharp, almost scolding, in the opinion in her criticism of the assertions made by the plaintiffs and some of the justices in the minority.
    — John E. Jones III, The Conversation, 1 July 2026
Definition of scolding
Verb
  • Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with ⅓ cup sour cream in 2 additions (about 2½ tablespoons each), scraping down bowl as needed.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 June 2026
  • Meanwhile the servers strain under the weight of AI companies scraping the encyclopedia in bulk, on a roughly $180 million annual budget funded mostly by donations of between two and eleven dollars.
    — Afdhel Aziz, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026
Definition of scraping
Verb
  • Acknowledging and even criticizing our mistakes of the past doesn’t cheapen one’s love for the United States.
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 4 July 2026
  • The movie continues its tradition of addressing social issues, this time focusing on human equality and colonial looting, with pointed dialogue criticizing the British Empire.
    — Hannah Abraham, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026
Definition of criticizing

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Cite this Entry

“Excoriating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excoriating. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of excoriating for Spanish Speakers

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