exodus

noun

ex·o·dus | \ ˈek-sə-dəs,

ˈeg-zə-

Definition of exodus

1 capitalized : the mainly narrative second book of canonical Jewish and Christian Scripture — see Bible Table

2 : a mass departure : emigration

Synonyms & Antonyms Don't Leave Without the History of Exodos Example Sentences Learn More about exodus

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Synonyms & Antonyms for exodus

Synonyms

gush, outflow, outpour, outpouring

Antonyms

flux, inflow, influx, inrush

Don't Leave Without the History of Exodos

The Biblical book of Exodus describes the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, so it's no surprise that the word has come to refer more generally to any mass departure. The word itself was adopted into English (via Latin) from Greek Exodos, which literally means "the road out." The Greek word was formed by combining the prefix ex- and hodos, meaning "road" or "way." Other descendants of the prolific hodos in English include episode, method, odometer, and period. There are also several scientific words that can be traced back to hodos. Anode and cathode can refer, respectively, to the positive and negative electrodes of a diode, and hodoscope refers to an instrument for tracing the paths of ionizing particles.

Examples of exodus in a Sentence

the mass exodus from the cities for the beaches and the mountains on most summer weekends

Recent Examples on the Web

The executives at that company presided over site-wide suspensions over fears about child pornography, which led to an exodus of users and hurt the site’s reputation. — Bijan Stephen, The Verge, "Tumblr’s porn ban could be its downfall — after all, it happened to LiveJournal," 6 Dec. 2018 Meeker is leading an exodus in a huge split at one of Silicon Valley’s most famous firms. — Recode Staff, Recode, "Recode Daily: Code Commerce is here; Marc Benioff buys Time," 17 Sep. 2018 As a result of the dire economic and health care situation, rising numbers of Venezuelans are joining in an exodus that has set off alarms across Latin America. — Fox News, "UN says an estimated 2.3 million people have fled Venezuela," 14 Aug. 2018 The initial fear for Stoke fans was that relegation would result in a rapid exodus. — SI.com, "Why Peter Crouch May be Right to Stay at Stoke City," 8 July 2018 Beginning in August last year, about 700,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine State in far western Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh in the most urgent exodus of humanity in a generation. — Hannah Beech, New York Times, "Myanmar and U.N. Agree to Aim for Repatriation of Rohingya," 31 May 2018 At the state oil giant, 25,000 workers — more than a quarter of its staff — quit last year in a mass exodus. — James Hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Immigration is tearing Republicans apart," 17 May 2018 To be clear, a massive exodus of Amazon Prime is still far from our present reality. — Rebecca Jennings, Vox, "More people are calling on others to cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions. Why’d it take us this long?," 26 Nov. 2018 And the numbers suggest a modest exodus of women from the GOP is happening. — Liz Plank, Glamour, "Why Are Men Still Voting Republican?," 31 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'exodus.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.