as in to blame
to subject (someone) to harsh public criticism
The press pilloried the judge for her decision.
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Recent Examples of pillory
The Republican former president, appearing on a video feed from his Florida club 10 days before he is inaugurated, again pilloried the case, the only one of his four criminal indictments that has gone to trial and possibly the only one that ever will.
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Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, TIME, 10 Jan. 2025
Caustic put-downs of Milton Berle, Jim Henson, and Johnny Carson anticipate the partisan snark by which SNL would pillory Millennial conservatives as non-hip — the antiquated value that has bankrupt stand-up comedy today.
—Armond White, National Review, 1 Jan. 2025
Irate skiers and snowboarders at Park City soon pilloried Vail, taking to social media and national news organizations to denounce lengthy lift lines and contrast the high salaries of Vail leadership and expensive ticket prices with the relatively low pay of resort workers.
—David Goodman, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Over the past eight years none of the studio's six spinoff movies in the series has been rated fresh by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and several of them have even been pilloried by their own stars.
—Caroline Reid, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pillory
Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, TIME, 10 Jan. 2025
Caustic put-downs of Milton Berle, Jim Henson, and Johnny Carson anticipate the partisan snark by which SNL would pillory Millennial conservatives as non-hip — the antiquated value that has bankrupt stand-up comedy today.
—Armond White, National Review, 1 Jan. 2025
Irate skiers and snowboarders at Park City soon pilloried Vail, taking to social media and national news organizations to denounce lengthy lift lines and contrast the high salaries of Vail leadership and expensive ticket prices with the relatively low pay of resort workers.
—David Goodman, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Over the past eight years none of the studio's six spinoff movies in the series has been rated fresh by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and several of them have even been pilloried by their own stars.
—Caroline Reid, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pillory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pillory
Verb
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The Democratic establishment’s focus on blaming Trump for those price spikes represents a stark break from its activists, who have launched a protest movement arguing that Trump is a budding dictator with no regard for the Constitution.—
Steve Peoples,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Mar. 2025
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Recently, however, doctors have started reporting more cases of iodine-deficient hypothyroidism—and our salt preferences may be at least partially to blame.—
Ellen Cushing,
The Atlantic,
8 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Hackman was praised for his acting but the movie was fiercely criticized for appearing to whitewash history and marginalize Black characters.—
Daniel Arkin,
NBC News,
27 Feb. 2025
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New York Mayor Eric Adams was facing a criminal corruption case until it was suspended in February by President Trump's Justice Department, while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was criticized over her handling of the wildfires which struck the city in January.—
David Faris,
Newsweek,
27 Feb. 2025
Verb
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However, the voice resembling Smith Sr.’s goes silent for the remainder of the phone call, as Martinez continues to scold him for his actions.—
Preezy Brown,
VIBE.com,
24 Feb. 2025
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Shakira storms off Miami nightclub stage after appearing to scold clubgoer for filming up her dress The title of the tour is taken from the singer's 12th studio album, released last year and the first since 2017's El Dorado.—
Ryan Coleman,
EW.com,
16 Feb. 2025
Verb
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House Majority Leader Matt Moonen condemned Libby in a statement on the House floor.—
Jackson Thompson,
Fox News,
26 Feb. 2025
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In an extraordinary illustration of the re-alignment on Ukraine, the U.S. sided with Russia in a vote against a United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning Russia, which passed on Monday with the support of the U.S.' traditional Western allies.—
David Brennan,
ABC News,
25 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Pillory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pillory. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
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