Meaning & use
crucify
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Meanings
verbtransitivereligion
To put a person to death by fastening them to a cross.
Grammar: Takes an object, usually in the past tense or passive: he was crucified.
Patterns
- crucify someone
- be crucified
The Romans crucified criminals along the road.
According to the Gospels, Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem.
The slave leader was crucified as a warning to others.
verbtransitiveinformalfigurative
To criticize someone very harshly and publicly.
Grammar: Informal use; often used in news or sports: the press crucified him.
Patterns
- crucify someone for something
- be crucified by someone
The newspapers crucified the minister for lying.
The coach was crucified by fans after the loss.
She felt the critics crucified her first novel.
verbtransitiveliterary
To cause someone great pain, suffering or torment.
Grammar: Literary; often used with feelings or guilt.
Patterns
- crucify someone with something
Guilt crucified him for years after the accident.
The cold wind crucified the unprotected hikers.
She was crucified by the long wait for news.
Word forms
| third person singular | crucifies |
|---|---|
| past tense | crucified |
| past participle | crucified |
| -ing form | crucifying |
Common combinations
- be crucified by the press
- The mayor was crucified by the press.
- crucify someone for something
- Fans crucified the player for the missed penalty.
- crucify the enemy
- Ancient rulers crucified their enemies in public.
- crucified on a cross
- The painting shows a man crucified on a cross.
- crucify yourself
- Don't crucify yourself over one small mistake.
Synonyms and how they differ
- slam
- Slam is a casual way of saying to criticize harshly, and it carries less drama.
- slate
- Slate is mainly British and means to criticize a work or person severely.
- condemn
- Condemn is a more formal word and means to express strong disapproval.
- torture
- Torture means causing severe pain, while crucify figuratively means to attack harshly in words.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: crucify or crucial?
crucify vs crucial
Crucial means extremely important and shares the Latin root, but it has no meaning of punishment or criticism.
Practice
After his comments went viral, the star was ___ by critics online for weeks.
Choose one answer.
Crucified here means criticized very harshly, a common figurative use. Crossed does not work with by critics, and crucial is an adjective, not a verb form.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “crucify”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.