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
-
excludernoun
-
preexcludeverb (used with object)
-
excludableadjective
-
exclusoryadjective
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unexcludedadjective
-
unexcludingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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excludesimple
-
excludessimple
-
have excludedperfect
-
has excludedperfect
-
am excludingprogressive
-
are excludingprogressive
-
is excludingprogressive
-
have been excludingperfect progressive
-
has been excludingperfect progressive
Past
-
excludedsimple
-
had excludedperfect
-
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 figures exclude Iranian-origin transits and could be revised higher.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Some states, such as Colorado, have laws that apply only to candidate deepfakes and thus exclude other uses of AI.
From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2026
If this were your friend’s primary residence, she could exclude up to $250,000 in capital gains from her taxable income.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
A US appeals court upheld on Friday the Pentagon's decision to exclude Anthropic from its supply chain, a decision taken when the AI startup refused to remove certain safeguards on its Claude model.
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
It will inspire an English surgeon named Joseph Lister to try performing surgery in sterile conditions that exclude or kill all microorganisms.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 1.0% in September from a year earlier, unchanged from the previous month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Additionally, it could trigger a 15-to-23-basis-points increase to core inflation, which excludes food and energy, the Barclays economists said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Some analysts also noted that core inflation in Germany, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, was steady at 2.4 percent in September.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
The final version excludes resale marketplaces from the definition of a speculative ticket seller.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 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
Fund managers worldwide keep a close eye on what countries are included or excluded in MSCI's indexes as that can trigger adjustments to their portfolios.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Each one was manually checked by BBC Verify reporters, who excluded any which did not meet the criteria above.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
The third-quarter results came in short of Wall Street expectations, even with the regulatory fine excluded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Some prospective participants were excluded because none of the tested adjustments successfully reduced their knee loading.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
It was pretty obvious I was being purposely excluded from that conversation.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
It measured an impressive 86.6 millimeters, or approximately 3.4 inches, excluding its tail, claws, and antennae.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
Across France, class sizes in secondary schools, excluding vocational programmes, reached a record high in 2025, averaging 30.2 pupils, according to the education ministry.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The urban jobless rate among 16- to 24-year-olds, excluding students, stands at roughly 19% as of August, compared with about 9% among the same age group in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
In 2018, she was paid $405,040, excluding any bonuses or other compensation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Whereupon this entire group, excluding Nick, laughed heartily.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
