excommunicate
verb (used with object)
to cut off from communion with a church or exclude from the sacraments of a church by ecclesiastical sentence.
excommunicated
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past participleof excommunicate.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
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past tense formof excommunicate.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
excommunicateverb (used with object)to cut off from communion with a church or exclude from the sacraments of a church by ecclesiastical sentence.
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.
At one point in the 1980s, bishops from the Society were excommunicated for disobeying Rome, but that decision was later reversed.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
They were immediately excommunicated, but the sanction was lifted in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
“I like to say I was excommunicated from the church of the medical establishment,” he said in the Substack video.
From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2025
In 2009, for example, Pope Benedict diplomatically reconnected with a far-right group that had, in a great scandal in the ’80s, excommunicated itself by consecrating bishops outside the church’s approval.
From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2023
My father and I had been excommunicated from the Saunders family.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
