Word.ws English Dictionary

lapidate

US/ˈlæpɪˌdeɪt/

lapidate verb: to throw stones or other objects at, as punishment, sometimes until death.

Verb

lapidate (third-person singular simple present lapidates, present participle lapidating, simple past and past participle lapidated)

  1. (transitive) To throw stones or other objects at, as punishment, sometimes until death.
    • the host (in tailcoat, grey cravat, purple vest) is lapidated by his wife while he loudly cries: "Maggie—please save a cup fer coffee in the morning."1932 February 1, “Jiggs & Maggie”, in Time Magazine
    • On August 27, 2002, a Nigerian court ordered the mother of a newborn child, Amina Lawal, to be publicly lapidated for adultery.2003 August 17, Daily Times
    Synonyms:
    stone
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To hurl insults at.
    • The hour-long (and far too slow-paced) show: Malice in Wonderland, by lampooning, lapidating S. J. Perelman, veteran of movie-writing stints1959 January 26, “Top of the Week”, in Time Magazine

Synonyms of lapidate

Forms of lapidate

third-person singular presentlapidates
present participlelapidating
past participlelapidated
pastlapidated

Origin of lapidate

First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin lapidātus, perfect passive participle of lapidō (“to throw stones at”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from lapis (“stone”).

Questions about lapidate

What does lapidate mean?
Lapidate means to throw stones or other objects at, as punishment, sometimes until death.
What part of speech is lapidate?
Lapidate is a verb.
How do you pronounce lapidate?
Lapidate is pronounced /ˈlæpɪˌdeɪt/ (US).
What is the past tense of lapidate?
The past tense of lapidate is lapidated.

Words near lapidate in the dictionary

  1. lapidary's lathes
  2. lapidary's mill
  3. lapidary's mills
  4. lapidary's wheel
  5. lapidary's wheels
  6. lapidate
  7. lapidated
  8. lapidates
  9. lapidating
  10. lapidation
  11. lapidations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lapidate (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lapidate.wav.

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