excommunicate

[verb eks-kuh-myoo-ni-keyt; noun, adjective eks-kuh-myoo-ni-kit, -keyt]

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verb (used with object), ex·com·mu·ni·cat·ed, ex·com·mu·ni·cat·ing.

to cut off from communion with a church or exclude from the sacraments of a church by ecclesiastical sentence.

to exclude or expel from membership or participation in any group, association, etc.: an advertiser excommunicated from a newspaper.

noun

an excommunicated person.

adjective

cut off from communion with a church; excommunicated.

Origin of excommunicate

1375–1425; late Middle English excommunicaten (v.) < Late Latin excommūnicātus literally, put out of the community (past participle of excommūnicāre), equivalent to ex- ex-¹ + commūn(is) common, public + -ic- (by analogy with commūnicāre to communicate) + -ātus -ate¹

Related formsex·com·mu·ni·ca·tor, nounun·ex·com·mu·ni·cat·ed, adjective

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

Related Words for excommunicate

oust, curse, eject, expel, repudiate, proscribe, dismiss, denounce, remove, ban, exclude, anathematize, unchurch

Examples from the Web for excommunicate

Contemporary Examples of excommunicate

And rather than fight with them, they'll just excommunicate and ignore him, which half of them have already done anyway, probably.
Conservative Schism? Not Getting My Hopes Up
Michael Tomasky
September 18, 2012
Jewish and world leaders privately asked him to excommunicate Hitler, but he declined to do so.
The Savior of Sobibor
Richard Rashke
October 14, 2013

Historical Examples of excommunicate

I do not know whether he did not even threaten to excommunicate all of us, living and dead.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
Suppose the Pope were to excommunicate one of the two brothers.
The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, Complete
Duc de Saint-Simon
She was a heretic whom any Court of Love must excommunicate.
Little Novels of Italy
Maurice Henry Hewlett
The whole world may excommunicate me—I don't trouble myself!
The Home
Fredrika Bremer
We should excommunicate rich and poor alike, and pretty freely too.
The Way of All Flesh
Samuel Butler

British Dictionary definitions for excommunicate

excommunicate

verb (ˌɛkskəˈmjuːnɪˌkeɪt)

(tr) to sentence (a member of the Church) to exclusion from the communion of believers and from the privileges and public prayers of the Church

adjective (ˌɛkskəˈmjuːnɪkɪt, -ˌkeɪt)

having incurred such a sentence

noun (ˌɛkskəˈmjuːnɪkɪt, -ˌkeɪt)

an excommunicated person

Derived Formsexcommunicable, adjectiveexcommunication, nounexcommunicative or excommunicatory, adjectiveexcommunicator, noun

Word Origin for excommunicate

C15: from Late Latin excommūnicāre, literally: to exclude from the community, from Latin commūnis common

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

Word Origin and History for excommunicate

early 15c., from Late Latin excommunicatus, past participle of excommunicare (see excommunication). Related: Excommunicated; excommunicating.