ostracize









ostracize


verb (used with object), os·tra·cized, os·tra·ciz·ing.

  1. to exclude, by general consent, from society, friendship, conversation, privileges, etc.: His friends ostracized him after his father’s arrest.
  2. to banish (a person) from his or her native country; expatriate.
  3. (in ancient Greece) to banish (a citizen) temporarily by popular vote.

verb (tr)

  1. to exclude or banish (a person) from a particular group, society, etc
  2. (in ancient Greece) to punish by temporary exile

v.1640s, from Greek ostrakizein “to banish,” literally “to banish by voting with potshards” (see ostracism). Figurative sense of “to exclude from society” is attested from 1640s. Related: Ostracization; ostracized; ostracizing.

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