banishment
Americannoun
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expulsion from a country, place, or position by authoritative decree, or the state of having been expelled.
A royal proclamation ordered the banishment of all priests from the city.
The team’s wide receiver flunked another drug test and will now be subject to a one-year banishment, according to league sources.
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the act of driving away, or the state of having been sent away or driven out.
We strive for the preservation of peace and the banishment of tyranny and slavery from the earth.
The decades after World War II were marked not by disarmament and the banishment of war but by ceaseless confrontation and the division of the world into hostile blocs.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of banishment
Explanation
When someone is punished by being made to leave a particular place, it's called banishment. If your new puppy chews up another of your dad's shoes, it may mean banishment to the backyard. In the old days, banishment was a common punishment for serious crimes — exiling someone from their town or village was shameful, leaving them estranged from their family and community. One particularly well-known banishment occurs in the Bible, when Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden. Today it's more common to use this word in a less serious way: "My banishment from the kitchen was inevitable after I broke three glasses in a row."
Vocabulary lists containing banishment
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The first was self-funded by an English artist named Benjamin Robert Haydon, who wanted to display his masterpiece, “The Banishment of Aristides,” a giant oil painting he’d been working on for years.
From New York Times • Jul. 26, 2018
Banishment is an action the tribe can take as a sovereign government.
From Washington Times • Feb. 24, 2017
A treasured if grisly NFL ritual: The Banishment of the Coaches!
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 4, 2016
Banishment from the country is decidedly unconstitutional, at least for U.S. citizens.
From Slate • Jan. 24, 2013
At the last second, the front Keeper somehow loosened the larger pole from the piece attached to Ben and yanked it back into the Glade, leaving the boy to his Banishment.
From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
