Entry Word: exile

Function: noun

Meaning: 1 the forced removal from a homeland <the exile of French settlers from Nova Scotia resulted in the birth of the Cajun community in the U.S.>

Synonyms banishment, deportation, displacement, expatriation, expulsion

Related Words ostracism; extradition; dispersion, scattering; emigration, migration; evacuation

Near Antonyms repatriation, return; immigration

2 a person forced to emigrate for political reasons <after being overthrown in a coup, the dictator spent the remainder of his life as an exile in a string of countries> — see émigré 1