Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: French
Origin: scarifier, from Latin scarifare, from Greek skariphasthai 'to draw a line on a surface'

scarify

 verb
     
scar‧i‧fy past tense and past participle scarified, present participle scarifying, third person singular scarifies [transitive]
1TTR to break and make loose the surface of a road or field using a pointed tool
2 formal to criticize someone very severely
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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