Flagellant
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 a person who whips themselves or others either as part of a religious penance or for sexual gratification.
- 2 a person who whips themself as a religious penance wordnet
- 3 a person who is whipped or whips themself for sexual gratification wordnet
- 1 Given to flagellation.
"If we turn from these abortions of tragedy to the metrical farces which may fairly be said to contain the germ or embryo of English comedy (a form of dramatic art which certainly owes nothing to the father of our tragic stage), we find far more of hope and promise in the broad free sketches of the flagellant head master of Eton and the bibulous Bishop of Bath and Wells; […]"
Example
More examples"If we turn from these abortions of tragedy to the metrical farces which may fairly be said to contain the germ or embryo of English comedy (a form of dramatic art which certainly owes nothing to the father of our tragic stage), we find far more of hope and promise in the broad free sketches of the flagellant head master of Eton and the bibulous Bishop of Bath and Wells; […]"
Etymology
From Latin flagellāns, present participle of flagellāre (“to whip”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.