Other forms: castigated, castigating, castigates
To castigate is to criticise somebody severely. Castigate the government, publicly castigated, castigate himself.
It is formal and belongs to editorials and reports rather than to speech, where people say tear into or slate. The Latin root is about correcting rather than merely scolding, and the older sense of the word was to punish.
1verbcastigateTo criticise somebody severely.
“The report castigated the hospital's managers for ignoring repeated warnings.”
castigate is a criticising.
Latin castigare means to correct or chasten, from castus, pure, plus agere, to drive. Chastise is a relative.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂eǵ-
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱes- — to cut
Latin
castīgātus
English, today
castigate
Built from
First attested in the beginning of the 17th century; Latin castīgātus, perfect passive participle of castīgō (“to reprove”) (see -ate and -ate), from castus (“pure, chaste”), from Proto-Indo-European ḱes- (“to cut”). a doublet of chastise and chasten, taken through Old French. See also chaste.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA