to pillory

Examples

• All

• Not the Founding Fathers; most notably, there is a very entertaining body of work by Benjamin Franklin (much of it under a pseudonym) pillorying the Puritans.

  Blog text (13)

• Allen says naming and shaming has its origins in how people were pilloried by being put in the stocks.

  Academic text (2008)

• I don't intend to pillory you with this response at all, but the Bechdel test was originally a joke in a comic strip, not exactly some evil government plot to strip away your right to write about whatever you want.

  Blog text (3)

• The ones that have since passed out of use in Britain and the United States—whipping and pillorying—remained available under American federal criminal law until 1839.

  Academic text (2004)

• The villagers decided to pillory the thief for his crimes, placing him in the stocks in the town square.

• In medieval times, wrongdoers would often be pilloried as a way to shame them publicly.

Synonyms

C

to crucify

vsto pillory

• NSFW

32 8.0

To criticize someone or something very harshly, often in public

is a specific immobilizing punishment using a wooden frame publicly

T

to tar-and-feather

vsto pillory

• Offensive

1 9.9

Cover someone with hot sticky tar and then feathers to punish and shame them publicly

is an immobilizing wooden frame that exposes head and hands publicly

R

to ride on a rail

vsto pillory

• Archaic

9.9

To be publicly punished or laughed at in a way that shames you

is a stationary wooden device that forces public exposure and shame

Antonyms

R

to reward

328 1.3

To give something to someone to thank them for doing something good

How Humiliating

to pillory

• Archaic

1 9.9

to humiliate

• Offensive

414 6.1

to shame

170 3.9

to embarrass

642 2.1

Surface Forms

Etymology