MEANING
1. To execute or torture someone by fastening them to a cross or comparable frame.
2. To criticize or condemn someone with exceptional severity.
Use it for
A body displayed through deliberate punishment; execution mimicking a historical form; savage public criticismPreserve the religious weight while making the physical fastening explicit.
Words that belong together
- crucify a prisoner
- crucified figure
- crucify in the press
On the page
The captors threatened to crucify the prisoner.
A figure had been crucified against the wooden frame.
The papers crucified the director before the evidence was released.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- crucify / crucifies
- Past tense
- crucified
- Past participle
- crucified
- Present participle
- crucifying
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- crucify / crucifies
- Present continuous
- am/is/are crucifying
- Present perfect
- have/has crucified
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been crucifying
- Past
- crucified
- Past continuous
- was/were crucifying
- Past perfect
- had crucified
- Past perfect continuous
- had been crucifying
- Future
- will crucify / crucifies
- Future continuous
- will be crucifying
- Future perfect
- will have crucified
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been crucifying
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Explore related collections
Usage notes
Primary category: horror. Historically and religiously charged; figuratively means subject to severe criticism. A cruciform pose alone does not establish crucifixion. Verb [base, third-person present, past, past participle, -ing]: crucify, crucifies, crucified, crucified, crucifying. Derived/related family (not inflections): crucifixion (noun).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.