Meaning & use
flagellants
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“flagellants” is a form of “flagellant”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounpluralreligion
Plural of flagellant: people who whip themselves or each other as religious punishment or devotion.
Grammar: Plural: the flagellants marched through town.
Patterns
- flagellants in somewhere
Flagellants marched through medieval towns during the plague years.
The church leaders disapproved of the flagellants and their public rituals.
Historians describe flagellants who believed their suffering would save the community.
nounpluralspecialist
People who whip themselves or others for sexual pleasure.
Grammar: A technical or specialist use: a case study of flagellants.
The study looked at flagellants in a clinical sense.
Some historians mention flagellants in the writings of early physicians.
Common combinations
- medieval flagellants
- Medieval flagellants walked in processions.
- band of flagellants
- A band of flagellants entered the city.
- flagellants marched
- Flagellants marched barefoot from town to town.
- flagellants during the plague
- Flagellants during the plague blamed sin.
Synonyms and how they differ
- penitents
- covers anyone showing sorrow for sin and need not involve whipping.
- self-whippers
- is a plain descriptive phrase and sounds less historical than flagellants.
- ascetics
- live a strict simple life but do not necessarily hurt themselves.
Word family
- flagellant noun
- one such person
- flagellate verb
- to whip
- flagellation noun
- whipping as punishment or devotion
- flagellum noun
- a whip-like tail on some cells
Commonly confused: flagellants or flagrant?
flagellants vs flagrant
Flagrant means shockingly obvious, like a flagrant lie, and is not related to whipping.
Practice
In medieval Europe, flagellants were people who:
Choose one answer.
Flagellants whipped themselves in religious devotion. The other options describe different groups.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “flagellants”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.