Search

to criticize or reprimand severely.
to punish in order to correct.
Historical Examples

To what length the castigation should proceed is of course matter for individual taste and judgment.
A Letter Book George Saintsbury

Or would he fail to fathom her identity and so lay himself open to her castigation?
Nobody Louis Joseph Vance

We have always felt that that is where the castigation should take place.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 152, May 2, 1917 Various

I couldn’t say that R. wanted to give me a castigation when I didn’t know what it meant.
A Young Girl’s Diary An Anonymous Young Girl

We considered it necessary to tie him up to the halberts, and gave him a castigation which to this hour he writhingly remembers.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 68, No 422, December 1850 Various

Its advocates have been met with neglect, contempt, or castigation, not with arguments.
Is Life Worth Living? William Hurrell Mallock

After this castigation he spent the night in the crypt, fasting and barefooted.
The Cathedral Church of Canterbury [2nd ed.]. Hartley Withers

You are at liberty, then, to go forth and assist in the castigation.
From the Housetops George Barr McCutcheon

I did not wish to subject the writer of “Bimetallism Simplified” to this castigation, but he would have it so.
The Arena Various

And when that shallow charlatan sneered at him in print, he left to Boileau the castigation that was so thoroughly given.
The Stones of Paris in History and Letters, Volume I (of 2) Benjamin Ellis Martin

verb
(transitive) to rebuke or criticize in a severe manner; chastise
n.

late 14c., castigacioun, from Latin castigationem (nominative castigatio) “a correcting, reproof, chastizing,” noun of action from past participle stem of castigare (see castigate).
v.

c.1600, from Latin castigatus, past participle of castigare “to correct, set right; purify; chastise, punish,” from castus “pure” (see caste) + agere “to do” (see act (n.)). The notion behind the word is “make someone pure by correcting or reproving him.”

If thou didst put this soure cold habit on To castigate thy pride, ’twere well. [Shakespeare, “Timon” IV.iii (1607)]

Related: Castigated; castigating; castigator; castigatory.