castigate

verb, adj — 5 senses

castigate

verb

UK, US /ˈkæs.tɪ.ɡeɪt/

Etymology First attested in the beginning of the 17ᵗʰ century; borrowed from Latin castīgātus, perfect passive participle of castīgō (“to reprove”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from castus (“pure, chaste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut”). Doublet of chastise and chasten, taken through Old French. See also chaste.

1

Formal To punish or reprimand someone severely.

  • Perhaps disarmed by his own scandalous behaviour with Bathsheba, he was in no position to castigate his son for a similar fault.1999, Robert P. Gordon, I & II Samuel: A Commentary, Zondervan, page 264:
2

Formal To execrate or condemn something in a harsh manner, especially by public criticism.

  • God doth indurate, when hee doth not by and by caſtigate a ſynner.1573, The Whole Workes of W. Tyndall, Iohn Frith, and Doct. Barnes, Three Worthy Martyrs And Principall Teachers of this Churche of England, Iohn Daye, page 280:
  • The curse of avarice and cupidity / Is all my sermon, for it frees the pelf. / Out come the pence, and specially for myself, / For my exclusive purpose is to win / And not at all to castigate their sin.1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 261:
3 more examples
  • But despite all this, for Barkan, the universalist notion of an 'Ottoman feudalism' was anathema: he castigated this idea as the concentrated expression of the anti-Ottomanism of the Kemalist Enlightenment.2016, Halil Berktay, Suraiya Faroqhi, New Approaches to State and Peasant in Ottoman History, Routledge, page 150:
  • Lewis should have castigated the reasoning employed rather than the emotion, which offers no clue as to which side of the argument a person will adopt.2001, Klaus R. Scherer, Angela Schorr, Tom Johnstone, Appraisal Processes in Emotion: Theory, Methods, Research, Oxford University Press, page 59:
  • From the outset, this issue becomes an often double-edged sword wherein Japan is both valorized and castigated.2012, James King, Under Foreign Eyes: Western Cinematic Adaptations of Postwar Japan, John Hunt Publishing, page 1:
3

Rare To revise or make corrections to a publication.

Derived terms
castigant, castigator, castigatory, uncastigated

castigate

adj

Etymology First attested in the beginning of the 17ᵗʰ century; borrowed from Latin castīgātus, perfect passive participle of castīgō (“to reprove”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from castus (“pure, chaste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut”). Doublet of chastise and chasten, taken through Old French. See also chaste.

1

Obsolete Subdued, chastened, moderated

2

Obsolete Revised and emended

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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