ostracizes

verb

present tense third-person singular of ostracize
as in criticizes
to not allow (someone) to be included in a group; to exclude (someone) from a group She was ostracized by the scientific community for many years because of her radical political beliefs. The other girls ostracized her because of the way she dressed.

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ostracizes
  1. criticizes
  2. denounces
  3. attacks
Verb
  • One candidate promises to lower gas and grocery prices and criticizes the incumbent for not doing so (as if politicians can control the market).
    — Cal Thomas, Arkansas Online, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Reddington says the defense won the case and criticizes the holdout juror.
    — Eric Levenson, CNN Money, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of criticizes
Verb
  • As the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises proceed, North Korea denounces them as invasion rehearsals, launches missiles and vows stronger deterrence, even as analysts say scaling back drills could weaken long-term allied readiness.
    — Hyung-Jin Kim, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2026
  • The project denounces Haiti’s justice system through the story of a woman imprisoned for years without trial and later judged not by law, but by scripture.
    — Lise Pedersen, Variety, 25 Apr. 2026
Definition of denounces
Verb
  • The degenerative disease attacks the motor neurons of the brain and spinal cords.
    — CT Jones, Rolling Stone, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The advertisement, which was released last week, attacks Vang over her attendance record at the meetings of local government bodies including the Sacramento Regional Transit District and Sacramento Transportation Authority.
    — Mathew Miranda, Sacbee.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of attacks
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.

Browse Nearby Words

ostracized
ostracizes
ostracizing
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Ostracizes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ostracizes. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of deportment

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All