excommunicate

Definition of excommunicatenext
as in to banish
to not allow (someone) to continue being a member of a group and especially the Roman Catholic church He was excommunicated from the church for his radical practices.

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of excommunicate Vatican decree targeted bishops and faithful In a decree, the Vatican excommunicated the four new bishops and the two existing SSPX bishops who participated in the ceremony. Nicole Winfield, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2026 In a decree, the Vatican excommunicated the four new bishops and the two bishops who participated in the ceremony. ABC News, 2 July 2026 The July 2 decree said the two bishops leading the unauthorized ordination, held in Switzerland on July 1, had been excommunicated, along with the four priests who had become new bishops, which was widely expected. Joshua McElwee, USA Today, 2 July 2026 The Vatican responded by excommunicating Lefebvre and the newly ordained bishops, though those excommunications were lifted in 2009 as part of an effort to restore relations. Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 30 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for excommunicate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for excommunicate
Verb
  • Their situation is nothing like that of Prince Andrew, for example, who was stripped of all his titles and has now been banished to Sandringham.
    Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Shoemaker said tribes have broad civil authority over non-Natives on tribal land, including to banish them.
    Savannah Peters, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • The outlet notes that at the same referendum, male heirs of Italy’s last king (aka sons of the Savoy family) were exiled and barred from ever entering the country.
    Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 20 Sep. 2026
  • The government was executing and exiling Black citizens; some had escaped slavery.
    Claire Galofaro, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • The piece questions the company's focus on alternative earnings metrics excluding amortization and its squishy customer retention.
    Michael Santoli, CNBC, 15 Sep. 2026
  • That figure jumped after Friday's inflation report showed that prices remain stubbornly high and core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy, picked up in August from the previous month.
    ABC News, ABC News, 15 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Those include bringing the Kurdish peshmerga security forces in northern Iraq under control of the central government’s military and expelling Iranian Kurdish dissident groups and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, that have bases in the region.
    ABC News, ABC News, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Last season ended when the club was expelled from the EFL Championship playoffs, where teams earn promotion to the Premier League, after being found guilty of spying on opponents.
    Kels Dayton, Hartford Courant, 15 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • While she was never found guilty of a crime, she was ostracized from society more than ever before.
    Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Some felt ostracized by family and peers who considered sustainable farming and environmentalism itself to be anti-farmer and anti-rural.
    Sydney Giacalone, The Conversation, 17 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • One passenger was fully ejected from the bus and another was partially ejected, police said.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 17 Sep. 2026
  • The pilot ejected before the fighter went down near County Road 633 and Blair Townhall Road in Grand Traverse County.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 17 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • In other developments, Ukraine's parliament voted to dismiss Ruslan Kravchenko from the post of prosecutor general Tuesday.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Critics dismissed the threat as a ploy to manufacture leverage in deal discussions.
    Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Excommunicate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excommunicate. Accessed 22 Sep. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster