ostracize

verb os·tra·cize \ ˈä-strə-ˌsīz \

|Updated on: 17 Jun 2018

Examples: ostracize in a Sentence

Editor's Note: ostracize Has Greek Roots

Definition of ostracize

ostracized; ostracizing

transitive verb

1 : to exile by ostracism

Despite his victories, Themistocles was ostracized by the Athenians.

2 : to exclude from a group by common consent

a lonely dissenter, ostracized as an enemy of the people
—Robert Brustein

See ostracize defined for English-language learners

See ostracize defined for kids

ostracize was our Word of the Day on 07/15/2016. Hear the podcast!

Examples of ostracize in a Sentence

She was ostracized from the scientific community for many years because of her radical political beliefs.
The other girls ostracized her because of the way she dressed.

Recent Examples of ostracize from the Web

Birbalsingh, a daughter to a Guyanese academic and a Jamaican nurse, recalls feeling ostracized as a non-white teenager, brought to the U.K. from Canada at the age of 15.

— flora carr, Time, "What It's Like to Study at the Strictest School in Britain," 20 Apr. 2018
If your ally ends up annoying people, there is a chance you might get ostracized by association.

— stephen fishbach, PEOPLE.com, "Stephen Fishbach's Survivor Blog: Did the Contestants Vote Out 'the Perfect Ally'?," 4 Apr. 2018
Related The rise of the National Front, Marine Le Pen's right-wing anti-immigrant party that won a third of votes in France's presidential runoff last year, aggravated many young black Voguers who already felt ostracized.

— NBC News, "Voguing revives as Paris minorities strike a political pose," 25 Mar. 2018
Empty seats have made the statement over the past two years for a fan base that has nevertheless proven itself hard to ostracize since 1999.

— bud shaw, cleveland.com, "The investment in Browns football has long outweighed the return -- Bud Shaw," 8 Jan. 2018
Even staff who asked questions were ostracized, fired, and/or threatened.

— yashar ali, Daily Intelligencer, "The Reporter Who Took Down a Unicorn," 24 May 2018
To mark the 20-year anniversary of Princess Diana's death last year, John and Harry discussed Diana's legacy as an AIDS advocate, at a time when patients were still ostracized, in the HBO documentary, Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy.

— julie kosin, Harper's BAZAAR, "Elton John Will Perform at the Royal Wedding," 17 May 2018
Equally as powerful, actress and director Lena Waithe hit the red carpet wearing a large rainbow cape around her shoulders to represent for the LGBTQI individuals who have notoriously been ostracized and demonized by the Catholic community.

— amira rasool, Teen Vogue, "Black Women Used the Met Gala 2018 Theme to Call Out Systematic Oppression in the Catholic Church," 8 May 2018
Many of the patients had been ostracized from their families and lost their jobs—everything in their life was gone.

— roberta brown, Vogue, "Why I Left My Life as a Nun and Became a Sex Therapist," 2 May 2018

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

ostracize Has Greek Roots

In ancient Greece, prominent citizens whose power or influence threatened the stability of the state could be exiled by a practice called ostracism. Voters would elect to banish another citizen by writing that citizen's name down on a potsherd. Those receiving enough votes would then be subject to temporary exile from the state (usually for ten years). The English verb ostracize can mean "to exile by the ancient method of ostracism," but these days it usually refers to the general exclusion of one person from a group at the agreement of its members. Ostracism and ostracize derive from the Greek ostrakizein ("to banish by voting with potsherds"). Its ancestor, the Greek ostrakon ("shell" or "potsherd"), also helped to give English the word oyster.