ouster
Americannoun
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expulsion or removal from a place or position occupied.
The opposition called for the ouster of the cabinet minister.
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Law.
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an ejection or eviction; dispossession.
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a wrongful exclusion from real property.
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noun
Etymology
Origin of ouster
1525–35; < Anglo-French, noun use of infinitive See oust
Explanation
Use the noun ouster to talk about the process of forcing someone out of a position. If your city's mayor is pressured to leave office, you can describe it as her ouster. When someone is dismissed or strongly influenced to abandon a position or quit a job, it's an ouster. A politician is often vulnerable to an ouster, when others are vying for her position, but your boss at work could also be subject to an ouster if his managers conspired to eliminate his job and force him out. Ouster once meant "kick out of one's house or property," from the Old French word oster, "take away, evict, or dispel."
Vocabulary lists containing ouster
This Week in Words: August 28 - September 1
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This Week In Words: April 5–11, 2020
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Donald Trump Foreign Policy Address
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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.
Investors get a chance to hear from Ouster on Tuesday when the company reports first-quarter earnings after the close of trading.
From Barron's • May 4, 2026
Monday, Ouster unveiled External link its REV8 family of lidars that see in color.
From Barron's • May 4, 2026
A year ago, Ouster reported an $8 million Ebitda loss from sales of $33 million.
From Barron's • Mar. 2, 2026
Ouster reported sales of $33 million in the March 2025 quarter.
From Barron's • Mar. 2, 2026
In the meantime the men of the village had met, and before I remounted, came to me and persuaded me to return by rail and deliver the Ouster lecture on the fifteenth.
From Ocean to Ocean on Horseback Being the Story of a Tour in the Saddle from the Atlantic to the Pacific; with Especial Reference to the Early History and Devel by Glazier, Willard W.
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.
