2 Samuel 7: 14 (King James Version)
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Buck up, logophiles! There’s no need to fret if you have a hard time sussing out the finer distinctions between chasten, castigate, and chastise, three verbs with overlapping histories and meanings. All three come (via different routes) from the Latin verb castīgāre, meaning "to punish," and all have been used to refer to physical punishment, but today are more likely to refer to a verbal dressing-down than a rap on the knuckles (or worse). However, while one is usually castigated or chastised by another person, one can be chastened—made to feel humility or embarrassment—by a humbling situation or experience. Just don’t let encountering an unfamiliar or subtle word be one of them; that’s what we’re here for.
Examples of chasten in a Sentence
Roshane Thomas, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2025
The American suffered a chastening 6-0, 6-0 defeat to Iga Świątek in the Wimbledon final eight weeks ago, the first time in the Open Era that a women’s player has failed to win a single game in the final at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
—Jamie Barton, CNN Money, 6 Sep. 2025
Many have read Gödel and come away chastened by the limits of certainty—without concluding, as Richardson did, that the logical next step was to spend your life playing cards and paying prostitutes.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
But Lippmann’s studies of psychology had chastened him.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for chasten
Cite this Entry
“Chasten.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chasten. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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