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# Word of The Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/word-of-the-day-15/
- Published: 2024-07-05T18:15:08.000Z
- Updated: 2024-07-05T18:15:08.000Z
- Author: The Editor
- Tags: General

**Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 5, 2024 is:**

**castigate** • \\KASS-tuh-gayt\\ • *verb*  

*Castigate* is a formal word that means "to criticize harshly."

// He was widely *castigated* for earning millions of dollars in bonuses as the company he was leading slid into insolvency.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/castigate?ref=goodoil.news)

**Examples:**  

"At key moments throughout the animated feature, which takes her from age 7 through her 20s, she’s bombarded with the song stylings of three Mythology 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 …" — Sheri Linden, *The Hollywood Reporter*, 11 Oct. 2023

**Did you know?**  

*Castigate* has a synonym in [*chastise*](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chastise?ref=goodoil.news): both verbs mean "to punish or to censure (someone)." They both also happen to come from the same Latin root, the verb *castīgāre*, meaning "to discipline for a fault or lapse; reprove, censure." *Castīgāre* is also the source of [*chasten*](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chasten?ref=goodoil.news), 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 *chasten* dates to the early 16th century, and *chastise* has been found in use as far back as the 14th.