disfellowship

[dis-fel-oh-ship]

noun

(in some Protestant religions) the status of a member who, because of some serious infraction of church policy, has been denied the church's sacraments and any post of responsibility and is officially shunned by other members.

verb (used with object), dis·fel·low·shiped, dis·fel·low·ship·ing or (especially British) dis·fel·low·shipped, dis·fel·low·ship·ping.

to place in the status of disfellowship.

Origin of disfellowship

First recorded in 1600–10; dis-¹ + fellowship

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for disfellowship

Historical Examples of disfellowship

Churches did not disfellowship each other over the organ question, but many congregations divided on it.
An American Religious Movement
Winfred Ernest Douglas

British Dictionary definitions for disfellowship

disfellowship

verb -ships, -shipping or -shipped or US -ships, -shiping or -shiped (tr)

to excommunicate

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012