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Excoriate, which first appeared in English in the 15th century, comes from "excoriatus," the past participle of the Late Latin verb excoriare, meaning "to strip off the hide." "Excoriare" was itself formed from a pairing of the Latin prefix ex-, meaning "out," and corium, meaning "skin" or "hide" or "leather." "Corium" has several other descendants in English. One is "cuirass," a name for a piece of armor that covers the body from neck to waist (or something, such as bony plates covering an animal, that resembles such armor). Another is "corium" itself, which is sometimes used as a synonym of "dermis" (the inner layer of human skin).
Examples of excoriate in a Sentence
Denver Post, 1 Aug. 2025
Ironically, despite being billed as Disney’s most lifelike Audio-Animatronic, its face bears little resemblance to Walt's leading to a deluge of excoriating criticism from fans.
—Caroline Reid, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025
Even for someone like Trump, who excoriated his predecessors for becoming mired in conflicts in the region and made lofty promises about pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, the region's interlocking conflicts have proven difficult to ignore, to say nothing of global energy markets.
—Sonam Sheth, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 July 2025
The documentary, aired in February, is expected to be the subject of an excoriating internal review coming next week after it was narrated by the child of a Hamas minister.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 4 July 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Excoriate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/excoriate. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
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excoriate
verb
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