i Register
In some senses, flagellate is marked as idiomatic. Watch for register when choosing this word.
verb
To whip or scourge.
Red welts rising from a flagellated back
To harshly chide or chastise, to reprimand.
Of a spermatozoon, to move its tail back and forth.
The gigantic egg sits, and the frantic and tiny sperm flagellates its tail to cross vast distances on its quest for dissolution in the huge egg.
adj
Resembling a whip.
Having flagella.
noun
Any organism that has flagella.