excommunicate

[eks-kuh-myoo-ni-keyt, eks-kuh-myoo-ni-kit, -keyt]

verb (used with object)

excommunicated, excommunicating 

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

2. to exclude or expel from membership or participation in any group, association, etc..

   an advertiser excommunicated from a newspaper.

noun

1. an excommunicated person.

adjective

1. cut off from communion with a church; excommunicated.

excommunicate

verb

1. (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

1. having incurred such a sentence

noun

1. an excommunicated person

Other Word Forms

• excommunicator noun
• unexcommunicated adjective
• excommunicative adjective
• excommunicable adjective
• excommunication noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of excommunicate¹

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 -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of excommunicate¹

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

Example Sentences

AI isn’t going anywhere: It’s already an essential tool for the modern economy, and excommunicating it from the classroom would leave graduates unprepared for the future.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He did this by threatening to excommunicate from the Church those bishops who refused to comply with his wishes.

Read more on BBC

He said he had had several meetings with Braverman, whom he said had been "excommunicated" and made a "pariah" by the Conservatives, despite what he said were her far-sighted views on immigration.

Read more on BBC

Smyth was only excommunicated by his local church the year before his death in 2018, after he was named publicly as an abuser in a Channel 4 News report.

Read more on BBC

He and his wife Anne were excommunicated by his local church in Cape Town, South Africa, the year before he died.

Read more on BBC