deport
Americanverb (used with object)
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deports,
present (3rd person singular)
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deported,
past participle, past
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deporting
present participle
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to expel (an alien) from a country; banish.
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to send or carry off; transport, especially forcibly.
The country deported its criminals.
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to bear, conduct, or behave (oneself ) in a particular manner.
verb
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to remove (an alien) forcibly from a country; expel
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to carry (an inhabitant) forcibly away from his homeland; transport; exile; banish
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to conduct, hold, or behave (oneself) in a specified manner
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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deporteenoun
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deporternoun
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deportableadjective
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nondeportableadjective
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nondeportedadjective
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undeportedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deportsimple
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deportssimple
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have deportedperfect
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has deportedperfect
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am deportingprogressive
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are deportingprogressive
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is deportingprogressive
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have been deportingperfect progressive
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has been deportingperfect progressive
Past
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deportedsimple
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had deportedperfect
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was deportingprogressive
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were deportingprogressive
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had been deportingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deport
1475–85; < Middle French déporter < Latin dēportāre to carry away, banish oneself, equivalent to dē- de- + portāre to carry; see port 5
Explanation
To deport is to kick someone out of a country. Deporting is also to deliver a person to the authorities of another country. Although you might like to deport your little brother from your room, it’s something governments do. Governments have the power to deport. When you're deported, you get thrown out of a country, often because you were there illegally. This type of deporting is similar to exiling. Another form of deporting is even harsher: sometimes a person is not only tossed out of one country, but handed over to the government of another country. This is also called being extradited, and it usually happens to people wanted for a crime in the second country.
Vocabulary lists containing deport
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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Latin Love, Vol I: portare
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Between Shades of Gray
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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:
Congress has made it US policy not to deport people to countries where their lives would be in danger or they could be subject to torture.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Khalil, who is still fighting the government’s efforts to deport him from the U.S., said the university’s failure to keep him safe from such harassment “directly led” to his March 2025 arrest and attempted deportation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
A 78-year-old British widow has told the BBC she is struggling to eat or sleep as the Swedish government threatens to deport her over a late post-Brexit residence application.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Previous governments have struggled to quickly deport foreign offenders and there are not thought to be any new returns agreements with other countries.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
Through an interpreter, the judge explained that the hearing was about whether he wished to fight the government’s plan to deport him to Mexico as soon as his sentence was finished.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Apparently, the administration is casting a very wide net as it detains and deports people.
From Salon ● May 25, 2025
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which detains and deports immigrants, said Tuesday during a separate hearing of the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on Homeland Security.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 18, 2023
Australia deports foreigners convicted of crimes as part of an immigration crackdown that can also strip dual-nationals of Australian citizenship.
From Reuters ● Jun. 10, 2022
The United States deports tens of thousands of immigrants every year.
From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2021
December 21: The United States deports 249 people that it has accused of being anarchists.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Some are baby boomers who have retired, and some are immigrants who either were deported or left the country on their own.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
The administration says it seeks assurances from those countries that the deported persons will not be not be abused or persecuted, but it refuses hearings for individuals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
"Foreign nationals deported under the Early Removal Scheme are banned from ever returning to the UK," the MOJ spokesperson said.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
He’s trying to get her papers, and there was a technicality in there—she had crossed over and not said it and is getting deported.
From Slate ● Sep. 28, 2026
She could not get work anywhere in the United States and would be deported to England as soon as the paperwork was finished.
From "Silent To The Bone" by E.L. Konigsburg
Undocumented residents don’t enjoy the same legal rights as citizens, and deporting someone is a much lower lift, legally speaking, than prosecuting someone for a crime they didn’t commit.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
The U.S. has begun deporting immigrants to Liberia, officials in the West African country said, part of President Trump’s wider plan to send migrants to third-party countries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
But deporting prisoners convicted of violent crimes and sex offences before they have served a substantial part of their sentences could be politically unpalatable, so this will need to be considered carefully.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
The government’s lawyers say immigration laws call for deporting non-citizens with “aggravated felonies” on their records.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
On the night of November 7, 1919, Palmer launched his campaign of rounding up suspected anarchists and Communist agitators for the purpose of deporting them from the United States.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
