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.
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Recent Examples of excommunicate
The fraternity's national parent organization also excommunicated the chapter.
—
Lucia Cheng, Des Moines Register, 20 Feb. 2026
Ex-Prince Andrew has effectively been excommunicated from the royal family as a result of his actions.
—Emma Banks, InStyle, 10 Feb. 2026
His brother, a defrocked Catholic priest with a Cessna Skyhawk aircraft and a Lincoln Continental, was excommunicated for marrying his secretary.
—Jasper Craven, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
The student movement should have immediately excommunicated him.
—Hussein Ibish, The Atlantic, 7 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for excommunicate
Lucia Cheng, Des Moines Register, 20 Feb. 2026
Ex-Prince Andrew has effectively been excommunicated from the royal family as a result of his actions.
—Emma Banks, InStyle, 10 Feb. 2026
His brother, a defrocked Catholic priest with a Cessna Skyhawk aircraft and a Lincoln Continental, was excommunicated for marrying his secretary.
—Jasper Craven, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
The student movement should have immediately excommunicated him.
—Hussein Ibish, The Atlantic, 7 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for excommunicate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for excommunicate
Verb
-
Under the cover of darkness, the Traitors murder the Faithful one by one in a treacherous spree while the Faithful try to uncover the Traitors and banish them from the game.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
11 May 2026
-
Latz has picked up the past four saves for Texas, banishing Jakob Junis to a supporting role.—
Andy Behrens,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
Verb
-
In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, young boys gradually become feral and sadistic when trapped on an island together, and in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Prospero magically shipwrecks his brother and his allies so that they will all be exiled together under his watch.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 May 2026
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Indeed, Dante was exiled after a sham trial convicting him of corruption.—
René Ostberg,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
7 May 2026
Verb
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To ensure the fairness and credibility of our readers’ poll, any votes originating from the same IP address that exceed 20 submissions will be excluded from the final tally.—
Baltimore Sun staff,
Baltimore Sun,
15 May 2026
-
To meet their growth targets, banks hired increasing numbers of women, African Americans, Asian Americans, and white ethnics, all of whom had been excluded from or simply wary about pursuing careers in finance.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 May 2026
Verb
-
The Beta Sigma Chapter of Omega Psi Phi has since been expelled from Southern University, per WAFB.—
Erin Clack,
PEOPLE,
17 May 2026
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Last year the leaders of nine European Union countries -- Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland -- signed an open letter claiming the rights convention prevented them from expelling foreign criminals.—
SAM McNEIL,
Arkansas Online,
17 May 2026
Verb
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In interviews with The Associated Press, two Spanish passengers — speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears they’ll be ostracized once on land — said that despite the outbreak, their days aboard have passed with relative tranquility.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
8 May 2026
-
You are allowed to have relationships and be in the world and not be ostracized.—
Anthony Robledo,
USA Today,
8 May 2026
Verb
-
Victor Wembanyama reacts after he was ejected for a flagrant foul during the first half of Game 4 in Minneapolis, Sunday, May 10, 2026.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
12 May 2026
-
The San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves are tied 2-2, and everyone will be watching to see how Victor Wembanyama responds after being ejected in the second quarter of Game 4.—
Rohan Nadkarni,
NBC news,
12 May 2026
Verb
-
The court recommended that the petition be dismissed, and that the organizations be given one month to submit the employee lists.—
Clayton Dalton,
New Yorker,
15 May 2026
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Even the foundations of today’s artificial intelligence boom were laid by the NSF in the 1980s and 1990s, when neural networks were a backwater dismissed by mainstream computer science.—
Gautam Mukunda,
Twin Cities,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Excommunicate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excommunicate. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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