banish

verb

ban·​ish ˈba-nish How to pronounce banish (audio)
banished; banishing; banishes

transitive verb

1
: to require by authority to leave a country
a dictator who banishes anyone who opposes him
2
: to drive out or remove from a home or place of usual resort or continuance
He was banished from court.
banishing her from the sport
The reporters were banished to another room.
3
: to clear away : dispel
his discovery banishes anxietyStringfellow Barr
banisher noun
banishment noun
Choose the Right Synonym for banish

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 an alien who has illegally entered or whose presence is judged inimical to the public welfare.

illegal aliens will be deported

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

a convict who was transported to Australia

Examples of banish in a Sentence

He was banished for life. The dictator banished anyone who opposed him.
Recent Examples on the Web After Bravo girlie and Traitor Phaedra Parks had been banished in a highly emotional roundtable, Sandra embarked on a quest to sniff out the remaining traitor, immediately setting her sights on Kate (who is, in fact, a Traitor. Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 7 Mar. 2024 Then Survivor winner Parvati Shallow was banished in episode eight, with Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks following two episodes later. Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 6 Mar. 2024 Ewan McGregor plays a Russian count banished to an attic room in a hotel who dances, drinks, and makes snow angels in a trailer for the upcoming eight-part series A Gentleman in Moscow. Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Mar. 2024 Starting at the top of episode 10, Peter gets banished. Emily Longeretta, Variety, 4 Mar. 2024 On Thursday, Tamburello finally voted to banish Parks. Jada Yuan, Washington Post, 23 Feb. 2024 At least at Sam’s house, the shadow stayed outside, banished by the delicious snacks and the warm cloud of a mother, by a good friend and her very attractive older brother. Emily Ziff Griffin, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2024 Cities institutionalize neocolonial segregation, with those of immigrant origin banished to dreary suburbs, hemmed in by brutal police and overseen by corrupt officials. Nabila Ramdani, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024 Snow White and the Huntsman director, and, due to the horror this engendered, was banished from the sequel. Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 14 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'banish.' 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 banysshen "to condemn by proclamation to leave a country, exile, outlaw, expel, drive away," borrowed from Anglo-French baniss-, stem of banir "to proclaim, (of a king or noble) summon by a call to arms, condemn by proclamation to leave a country, exclude" (also continental Old French), going back to a Gallo-Romance adaptation of Old Low Franconian *bannjan, verbal derivative of *banna- "summon to arms by a lord" — more at ban entry 2

Note: Compare Medieval Latin bannīre, bandīre "to summon by public authority and compel performance of something" (this sense is already in the seventh-century Lex Ripuaria, the laws of the Ripuarian Franks), "to require by public authority, place under a prohibition, excommunicate." Compare also bandit.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of banish was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near banish

Cite this Entry

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

Kids Definition

banish

verb
ban·​ish ˈban-ish How to pronounce banish (audio)
1
: to force to leave a country
2
: to drive away
banish fears
banishment noun

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