excoriate
10 years ago No Comments

(pronounced ehk-SKOR-ee-ayt)

This word’s hard, harsh sound conjures up nails on a chalkboard, which is appropriate since it means either to wear the skin off of or to reprimand and criticize very disdainfully.

Example: Jackie came to dread her company’s weekly staff meetings because the firm’s partners — one an interior designer and the other an architect — had no qualms about endlessly excoriating each other in front of everyone.