exclude
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to shut or keep out; prevent the entrance of.
- Antonyms:
- include
-
to shut out from consideration, privilege, etc..
Employees and their relatives were excluded from participation in the contest.
-
to expel and keep out; thrust out; eject.
He was excluded from the club for infractions of the rules.
- Synonyms:
- reject
verb
-
to keep out; prevent from entering
-
to reject or not consider; leave out
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to expel forcibly; eject
-
to debar from school, either temporarily or permanently, as a form of punishment
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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excludernoun
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preexcludeverb (used with object)
-
excludableadjective
-
exclusoryadjective
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unexcludedadjective
-
unexcludingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
excludesimple
-
excludessimple
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have excludedperfect
-
has excludedperfect
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am excludingprogressive
-
are excludingprogressive
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is excludingprogressive
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have been excludingperfect progressive
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has been excludingperfect progressive
Past
-
excludedsimple
-
had excludedperfect
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was excludingprogressive
-
were excludingprogressive
-
had been excludingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exclude
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin exclūdere “to shut out, cut off,” from ex- ex- 1 + -clūdere, combining form of claudere “to shut, close”
Compare meaning
How does exclude compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Exclude means to leave out — like when the cool kids won't let you in on their game of four-square or the pizza guy leaves your neighborhood out from his delivery zone. Exclude comes to us from the Latin word excludere, which means "to shut." So essentially, when you exclude someone you slam the door in their face one way or another: You won't let them into the party, you leave them off the invite list, or refuse to include them in the conversation once they arrive. Needless to say, excluding others is not very nice.
Vocabulary lists containing exclude
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Case Closed: Clud, Clus
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UCPS 6th Grade Roots List #1
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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.
See Examples For:
The league’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” but does not specifically exclude transgender women.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
The expected announcement from Mahmood comes less than a week after a call from grooming gang survivors to exclude sex offenders from early release.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Each would exclude companies determined by fund managers to be “founded, controlled or led by” Musk, or which he is “primarily associated” with as a major shareholder or founder.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Repasi said he wants to ensure the rules apply to company employees where they work, not where the business is based -- and also wants to exclude sectors like catering and construction from the rules.
From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026
I thought it was a way to exclude me even further from the case, reduce me to nothing, and, in a sense, substitute himself for me.
From "The Stranger" by Albert Camus
Adjusted earnings, which excludes one-off costs and exceptional items, came to C$2.08 a share.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
"Net bookings", the company's preferred revenue yardstick which excludes some deferred sales, was down slightly less in April-June, falling nine percent to 256 million euros.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Growth in regular earnings - which excludes bonuses - remained unchanged, rising at an annual pace of 3.4% in the March to May period.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
It also excludes walk-ins and any more reservations made throughout the day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
It thus systematically excludes from consideration the very feature which makes scientific arguments distinctive: their appeal to superior evidence.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
If Alphabet were excluded from second-quarter earnings figures overall, the S&P 500’s blended earnings growth rate — which combines actual results and expected results — would fall to 25.9%, from 37.9%, according to the report.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 26, 2026
The analysis looks at candidates who have not held federal office before, meaning incumbents were excluded.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
No issue facing Southeast Asia's foreign ministers has been more fraught than how to reintegrate Myanmar, a member state formally excluded from such summits since its military junta seized power in 2021.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
However, the authors note that this choice could also have excluded some genuinely weak extraterrestrial signals.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
The fact that America had accused us, or excluded us, or imprisoned us, or whatever it might be called, did not change the kind of world we wanted.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
Brownstein: I don’t like the idea of excluding unvaccinated kids from my practice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Sales rose by in most regions on a comparable basis, including by six percent in Asia excluding Japan and four percent in the United States.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Ebitda fell 4.3% in the second quarter, or 3.2% when excluding transaction expenses.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Japan’s consumer prices, excluding fresh food, rose 1.6% in June from a year earlier, up from a 1.4% increase in May.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Many participles have turned into prepositions, such as according, allowing, barring, concerning, considering, excepting, excluding, failing, following, given, granted, including, owing, regarding, and respecting, and they don’t need subjects at all.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
