castigate

UK/ˈkæs.tɪ.ɡeɪt/

castigate verb: to punish or reprimand someone severely.

Verb

castigate (third-person singular simple present castigates, present participle castigating, simple past and past participle castigated)

(formal, transitive) 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
Synonyms:

rebuke, reprimand, chasten, chastise, admonish, animadvert, bash, bawl out, tilt, cannonade
(formal, transitive) 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
Synonyms:

condemn, lambaste, admonish, animadvert, bash, bawl out, tilt, cannonade, slash, lash
(rare, transitive) To revise or make corrections to a publication.

Synonyms:

correct, revise

Adjective

castigate (comparative more castigate, superlative most castigate)

(obsolete) Subdued, chastened, moderated
(obsolete) Revised and emended

castigate meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada

castigate in Malayalam

ശാസിക്കുക, കഠിനമായി താക്കീതു ചെയ്യുക, ശിക്ഷിക്കുക

castigate in Kannada

ಜಂಕಿಸು, ಗಜರು

More languagesFewer languages

castigate in Indonesian: menegur, mengecam, mencela, mengkritik

Examples of castigate in a sentence

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...
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:

All 11 example sentences with castigate

Synonyms of castigate

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of castigate

Forms of castigate

Verb
third-person singular present	castigates
present participle	castigating
past participle	castigated
past	castigated
Adjective
comparative	more castigate
superlative	most castigate

Origin of castigate

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.

Words formed from castigate

Questions about castigate

What does castigate mean?: Castigate means to punish or reprimand someone severely.
What is castigate in Tamil?: Castigate in Tamil is ஒறு, கண்டித்துரை, தண்டி. See Castigate meaning in Tamil.
How do you use castigate in a sentence?: 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.
What part of speech is castigate?: Castigate can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce castigate?: Castigate is pronounced /ˈkæs.tɪ.ɡeɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of castigate?: The past tense of castigate is castigated.

Words near castigate in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: castigate (page history and authors); castigate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); castigate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); castigate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); castigate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-castigate.ogg, en-au-castigate.ogg.

Cite this entry: “castigate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/castigate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.