It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 5th.
Today's word is castigate, spelled C-A-S-T-I-G-A-T-E.
Castigate is a verb.
It's a formal word that means to criticize harshly.
Here's the word used in a sentence from The Hollywood Reporter.
At key moments throughout the animated feature, which takes her from age seven through her twenties,
she's bombarded with the song stylings of three mythological sirens,
harmonizing scolds who take different forms depending on the circumstances.
They reinforce Zelma's self-doubt and castigate her whenever she breaks or questions the old-school rules of the boy-girl game.
Castigate has a synonym in the word chastise.
Both verbs mean to punish or to censure someone.
They also happen to come from the same Latin root, the verb castigare,
meaning to discipline for a fault or lapse, to reprove or censure.
Castigare is also the source of the word chasten, which can also mean to discipline by punishment,
but more commonly means to subdue or make humble, as in chastened by my foolish error.
Castigate is the newest of the three verbs.
Current evidence dates it to the early 17th century, while Chason dates to the early 16th century,
and Chastise has been found in use as far back as the 14th century.
With your Word of the Day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.
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