exorcise

verb

ex·​or·​cise ˈek-ˌsȯr-ˌsīz  -sər- 

variants or less commonly exorcize

exorcised also exorcized; exorcising also exorcizing

transitive verb

1

a

: to expel (an evil spirit) by adjuration

b

: to get rid of (something troublesome, menacing, or oppressive)

2

: to free of an evil spirit

exorciser noun

Synonyms

• cashier
• cast (off)
• chuck
• deep-six
• discard
• ditch
• dump
• eighty-six
• 86
• fling (off or away)
• jettison
• junk
• lay by
• lose
• pitch
• reject
• scrap
• shed
• shuck (off)
• slough (off)
• sluff (off)
• throw away
• throw out
• toss
• unload

Examples of exorcise in a Sentence

The movie is about a priest who tries to exorcise demons from a young girl.

please exorcise that offensive word from your vocabulary

Recent Examples on the Web

But on a symbolic level, Nicaragua provided American hawks with an opportunity to exorcise the ghost of defeat in Vietnam. —TIME, 2 May 2024

Alonso’s team will, over the next few weeks, exorcise those ghosts in fairly spectacular fashion. —Christopher F. Schuetze, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French exorciscer, from Late Latin exorcizare, from Greek exorkizein, from ex- + horkizein to bind by oath, adjure, from horkos oath

First Known Use

1539, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

exorcise

verb

ex·​or·​cise ˈek-ˌsȯr-ˌsīz 

-sər-

exorcised; exorcising

: to drive (as an evil spirit) off by calling upon some holy name or by spells