exclusionary
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of exclusionary
Explanation
Being exclusionary means deliberately leaving out certain people or groups, like an exclusionary club that won't admit anyone who's shorter than six feet tall or who has red hair. When something is exclusionary, it's limited to specific people or only those who belong to certain groups. This adjective has a negative connotation, because excluding people, especially for reasons out of their control, is usually unfair. Exclusionary comes from the Latin exclusionem, "a shutting out" and its root, which means "to shut." An exclusionary game of beach volleyball shuts out certain people, while making the game inclusive allows anyone who's interested to join in.
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.
What he had originally understood as a welcoming LGBTQ+ community now felt exclusionary and hostile.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025
As the castle doctrine spread across the English colonies, including North America, it took its essential exclusionary principles with it.
From Slate • Oct. 23, 2025
“It feels really lifeless and exclusionary, and the love that those centers had for their students — that love hasn’t found its place back to campus yet,” she said in an interview.
From Salon • Sep. 22, 2025
The order, she said, “undermines decades of progress and goes against a large body of research that shows that punitive, exclusionary discipline does not work.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2025
Throughout the United States, public housing agencies have adopted exclusionary policies that deny eligibility to applicants even with the most minor criminal backgrounds.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
