excoriate ek-ˈskȯr-ē-ˌāt verb
1. express strong disapproval of
2. tear or wear off the skin or make sore by abrading
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The word excoriate has appeared in 14 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Sept. 24 in “Bill Murray Faces Legal Threat From Doobie Brothers” by Tiffany Hsu:
A lawyer for the Doobie Brothers is demanding that the actor Bill Murray pay up for using one of the group’s hits in a commercial for his William Murray line of golf clothing.
“We’d almost be OK with it if the shirts weren’t so damn ugly,” the lawyer, Peter T. Paterno, wrote in a letter sent to Mr. Murray on Wednesday.
…. In his letter to Mr. Murray, Mr. Paterno was no less sarcastic: “This is the part where I’m supposed to cite the United States Copyright Act, excoriate you for not complying with some subparagraph that I’m too lazy to look up and threaten you with eternal damnation for doing so. But you already earned that with those Garfield movies.”
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