Word of the Day Archive
Friday December 20, 2002
castigate \KAS-tuh-gayt\ , transitive verb:
To punish severely; also, to chastise verbally; to rebuke; to criticize severely.
It was not good enough to castigate him for his sins.
-- Frank Deford, "Knight is too easy a target", Sports Illustrated, May 25, 2000
Out in the world they marvelled that they were found acceptable to others, after years of being castigated as unsatisfactory, disappointing.
-- Anita Brookner, Falling Slowly
Though castigated by the Catholic Church, illegitimacy was scarcely an unusual feature of Austrian country life.
-- Ian Kershaw, Hitler: 1889-1936: Hubris
For my lack of missionary zeal, I have been castigated by a few militant atheists, who are irritated by my disinclination to try persuading people to abandon their faith that God exists (while some religious people regard me as a militant atheist intent on promoting worship of unspecified "secular idols").
-- Wendy Kaminer, Sleeping With Extra-Terrestrials
Castigate comes from Latin castigare, "to purify, to correct, to punish," from castus, "pure."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for castigate
