exclude
Americanverb (used with object)
-
excludes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
excluded,
past participle, past
-
excluding
present participle
-
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
-
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)
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excludableadjective
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exclusoryadjective
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unexcludedadjective
-
unexcludingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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excludesimple
-
excludessimple
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have excludedperfect
-
has excludedperfect
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am excludingprogressive
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are excludingprogressive
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is excludingprogressive
-
have been excludingperfect progressive
-
has been excludingperfect progressive
Past
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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:
Unless iPhone users exclude themselves from the settlement class, they won’t be able to sue Apple or join any lawsuit against the company based on the claims in the case.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
"If a health condition is stable and it's not affecting someone's functional ability, then there's no reason to exclude that person," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Among other business law reforms, Texas last year passed legislation that lets companies incorporated in the state exclude resolutions if proponents don’t own at least $1 million, or 3%, of voting shares.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Core prices, which exclude food and energy prices, increased 0.3% on the month, slightly more than expected.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Frankly, it is felt to be right to exclude him, and it is felt to be wrong to admit him freely.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
The smartwatches allow children to add friends on a social network by tapping devices together, a feature that excludes users of other brands such as Apple and Huawei.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
The core inflation metric excludes food and energy prices.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
That excludes large states like California, New York and Pennsylvania.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.4% on year in August and 0.2% on month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
The clay hypothesis hardly excludes life on Mars, but it certainly carries us far enough to say that there is no compelling evidence for microbiology on Mars.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
While not a conclusive match, Walters could not be excluded from the mixture.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Even if he finalises his reported extension, it will be at a lower level than the average 'marquee' player – those whose pay is excluded from the salary cap – took home in 2024-25.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Portuguese-speaking Brazil, the region's largest market for Meta's platforms, was excluded from the crowdsourcing trial.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
And when the Morgan Stanley strategists pointed to “strong free cash flow,” they excluded the two largest names in the group — at least for now.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
So anyone with depth of thought is almost automatically excluded from the main high school social structure.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
"We expect inflation excluding fresh food and energy to rise further towards 2.5 percent by early next year," said Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics.
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
Official data shows police forces across England and Wales, excluding the British Transport Police, recorded 502,011 shoplifting offences in 2025-26 alone.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Prices excluding food and energy rose 0.3% compared with July, above analyst expectations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
This year her department has a slate of 44 new and returning scripted series from the U.S. and Canada, excluding stand-up, comedy formats and adult animation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
The Court had repeatedly made clear, though, that the Constitution does not require that racial minorities and women actually serve on juries—it only forbids excluding jurors on the basis of race or gender.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
