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Glite Dictionary
🥀 To whip 🦠 A single-celled organism 🧬 Whip-like
to flagellate

to flagellate

2 9.9
To hit yourself or another person with a whip as punishment, often for religious reasons
  • verb
  • /flædʒəˌleɪt/
  • NSFW
translation icon : flagelar
  • I feel like flagellating myself like the weird albino priest in Angels and Demons every time I see his face.
  • self-flagellated

So to self flagellate at the altar of self loathing is a progressive virtue.

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Examples

  • I wondered if Andy was flagellating himself at the monastery.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Look, I'm happy to strip off my shirt... and flagellate myself before you.

    Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

  • The Renouncers flagellate themselves for the forgiveness of humanity.

    Children of Men (2006)

  • I chant the words in my head, flagellating myself with them.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • An army of self-flagellating sinners led the way for a cast of wooden saints carried high on flowered catafalques.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Our leaders who flagellate themselves with their private glory—liberal guilt—understand that they are doing enough just drawing attention to our moral failings, past and present.

    Blog text (27)

  • During the religious ceremony, some participants chose to flagellate themselves as a form of penance.

  • He believed that to flagellate oneself was necessary for spiritual growth and purification.

  • The followers of the sect would flagellate in public to show their devotion and ask for forgiveness.

Synonyms

to whip
vsto flagellate
133 4.4

To hit something with a long thin object or move it quickly and forcefully

focuses on deliberate beating for punishment or religious discipline
to flog
vsto flagellate
  • NSFW
18 8.3

Hit someone with a whip or stick as punishment

can also mean self-inflicted punishment in religious contexts
to scourge
vsto flagellate
  • NSFW
2 9.5

To whip someone as punishment for religious reasons

also covers self-beating and ritual self-punishment

Antonyms

to pamper
42 3.7

To give someone too much care and special treatment

Compounds

flagellate protozoan
  • Specialized
9.2

A single-cell creature that moves with tail-like parts and can cause disease in people

plantlike flagellate
  • Specialized
9.9

A one-celled water living thing that makes food from light and moves with a tail

How Severe

to scourge
  • Formal
1 9.1
to flagellate
  • NSFW
2 9.9
to beat
  • NSFW
∞ 1.2
to strike
553 2.4

Surface Forms

flagellate infinitive
flagellated past
flagellated past participle
flagellating present participle
flagellates third person singular

Morphology

flagellate = flagellum (transparent) = flagellum + ate

Verb formed by adding the productive verb-forming suffix '-ate' to the root meaning 'whip', yielding the literal meaning 'to whip or flog'.

Etymology

Flagellate as a verb comes from the Latin flagellare meaning 'to whip', and it means to beat or punish with a whip, so to flagellate someone is to 'whip' them or to whip oneself as a form of penance.