flagellant

[ flaj-uh-luhnt, fluh-jel-uhnt ]

noun

1. a person who flagellates or scourges their own body for religious discipline.
2. a person who derives sexual pleasure from whipping or being whipped by another person.
3. (often initial capital letter) one of a medieval European sect of fanatics who practiced scourging in public.

adjective

1. flagellating.
2. severely criticizing:

   a flagellant attack on the opposition party.

flagellant

/ ˈflædʒɪlənt; ˈflædʒɪˌleɪtə; fləˈdʒɛlənt /

noun

1. a person who whips himself or others either as part of a religious penance or for sexual gratification
2. often capital (in medieval Europe) a member of a religious sect who whipped themselves in public

Derived Forms

• ˈflagellantˌism, noun

Other Words From

• flag·el·lant·ism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of flagellant¹

First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin flagellant- (stem of flagellāns ) “whipping,” present participle of flagellāre; flagellum, -ant

Word History and Origins

Origin of flagellant¹

C16: from Latin flagellāre to whip, from flagellum

Example Sentences

Are we to believe that any response short of becoming a flagellant is inadequate?

From Los Angeles Times

I thought death might be a punishment for not respecting them, and so this life as a flagellant has had to be disguised in words so as not to speak the unutterable one.

From New York Times

The flagellants went on the march, dressed in linen hoods, slapping themselves for God and begging for the absolution of people’s many sins.

From The Guardian

With music again as a driving pulse, flagellants would whip their backs with chains and ropes for hours on end, and to the singular horror of most who saw them.

From The Guardian

Among the monasteries that took in foundlings, one was a flagellant order.

From Literature