expulsion

noun

ex·​pul·​sion ik-ˈspəl-shən How to pronounce expulsion (audio)
: the act of expelling : the state of being expelled
expulsive adjective

Examples of expulsion in a Sentence

The government engaged in mass expulsions. the expulsion of air from the lungs
Recent Examples on the Web The Beverly Hills Unified School District board of education voted at a special meeting Wednesday evening to approve stipulated agreements of expulsion with five students. Jon Healey, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2024 Robinson isn’t especially interested in the historical actuality of events like the expulsion from Eden, the flood, or the Tower of Babel. James Wood, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2024 The abject reminds us of the facts of our bodies through excretion, secretion, expulsion. Hazlitt, 28 Feb. 2024 In 2022, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled against the residents, allowing the army to carry out one of the largest expulsions in the West Bank since the late 60s. Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Feb. 2024 Despite strong historic ties with the Afghan Taliban, Islamabad has recently fallen out with Kabul over cross-border terrorist attacks and Pakistan’s expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees, many of whom have lived inside the country for decades. TIME, 9 Feb. 2024 Zelenskyy has presented a 10-point peace formula that, among other things, seeks the expulsion of all Russian forces from Ukraine and accountability for war crimes — at a time when the two sides are fighting from largely static positions along a roughly 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line. Jon Gambrell, Quartz, 27 Feb. 2024 The fateful hand reaches toward Eve on her final night before expulsion from the garden, for example, and elsewhere wields a knife blade to cut a flower rising from the sea next to a floating body. Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 16 Feb. 2024 The diplomatic fallout saw tit-for-tat expulsions of senior diplomats from both countries. Tara John, CNN, 13 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'expulsion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French expulsioun, from Latin expulsion-, expulsio, from expellere to expel

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of expulsion was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near expulsion

Cite this Entry

“Expulsion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expulsion. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

expulsion

noun
ex·​pul·​sion ik-ˈspəl-shən How to pronounce expulsion (audio)
: the act of expelling : the state of being expelled

More from Merriam-Webster on expulsion

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