deport

verb

de·​port di-ˈpȯrt 

dē-

deported; deporting; deports

transitive verb

1

[Latin deportare]

a

: to send (a foreign-born noncitizen) out of the country by legal order : to subject to deportation

b

: to remove (someone or something) : displace

… over two hundred miners … were forcibly deported from their homes …

—Zechariah Chafee

2

: to behave or comport (oneself) especially in accord with a code

Synonyms of deport

• exile
• banish
• relegate
• evict

Choose the Right Synonym for deport

banish, exile, deport, transport mean to remove by authority from a state or country.

banish implies compulsory removal from a country not necessarily one's own.

banished for seditious activities

exile may imply compulsory removal or an enforced or voluntary absence from one's own country.

a writer who exiled himself for political reasons

deport implies sending out of the country a noncitizen who has illegally entered or whose presence is judged adverse to the public welfare.

migrants may be deported

transport implies sending a convicted criminal to an overseas penal colony.

a convict who was transported to Australia

behave, conduct, deport, comport, acquit mean to act or to cause oneself to do something in a certain way.

behave may apply to the meeting of a standard of what is proper or decorous.

the children behaved in church

conduct implies action or behavior that shows the extent of one's power to control or direct oneself.

conducted herself with unfailing good humor

deport implies behaving so as to show how far one conforms to conventional rules of discipline or propriety.

the hero deported himself in accord with the code of chivalry

comport suggests conduct measured by what is expected or required of one in a certain class or position.

comported themselves as gentlemen

acquit applies to action under stress that deserves praise or meets expectations.

acquitted herself well in her first assignment

Examples of deport in a Sentence

Thousands of immigrants had been illegally deported.

deported them back to their country of birth

Recent Examples on the Web

After Garvey was deported in 1927 following a mail-fraud conviction, Moore was forced to channel her activism into vehicles beyond the declining UNIA. —Dara T. Mathis, The Atlantic, 16 Dec. 2025

Nimtz testified that Flores-Ruiz, who was deported once before, had a pending criminal case and allegations of violence against others, referring to his battery case stemming from a fight with roommates. —John Diedrich, jsonline.com, 15 Dec. 2025

Kast — who will be Chile’s most right-wing president since the fall of dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1990 — has vowed to deport all undocumented migrants, including thousands of Venezuelans who have flocked to Chile to escape economic freefall and political repression back home. —Jeronimo Gonzalez, semafor.com, 15 Dec. 2025

Now, clients are calling us expressing grave uncertainty that their future here is over and that they and their children could be deported, in some cases, to face persecution or even death. —Daniel Gonzalez, AZCentral.com, 13 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle French deporter, from Latin deportare to carry away, from de- + portare to carry — more at fare

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for deport

• abort
• airport
• alport
• athwart
• carport
• comport
• consort
• distort
• escort
• exhort
• extort
• forecourt

Kids Definition

deport

verb

de·​port di-ˈpō(ə)rt 

-ˈpȯ(ə)rt

1

: to cause (oneself) to act in a certain way : conduct

deported themselves well in public

2

: to force (a person who is not a citizen) to leave a country

deportation

ˌdē-ˌpōr-ˈtā-shən, 

-ˌpȯr-

noun

deportee

ˌdē-ˌpōr-ˈtē, 

-ˌpȯr-

noun

Legal Definition

deport

transitive verb

de·​port di-ˈpōrt 

: to send (an alien) out of a country by order of deportation compare exclude

deportable adjective