exile
[eg-zahyl, ek-sahyl]
- expulsion from one's native land by authoritative decree.
- the fact or state of such expulsion: to live in exile.
- a person banished from his or her native land.
- prolonged separation from one's country or home, as by force of circumstances: wartime exile.
- anyone separated from his or her country or home voluntarily or by force of circumstances.
- the Exile, the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, 597–538 b.c.
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- to expel or banish (a person) from his or her country; expatriate.
- to separate from country, home, etc.: Disagreements exiled him from his family.
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Origin of exile
1250–1300; Middle English exil banishment < Latin ex(s)ilium, equivalent to exsul banished person + -ium -ium
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
expatriaterefugeefugitiveoustrelegateextraditeoutlawexpeldisplaceevacuateostracizebanishdispersionproscriptionexclusiondisplacementexpulsiondiasporaostracismmigrationExamples from the Web for exile
Contemporary Examples
A twinned, imagined narrative of a fictitious Fidel Castro and a Miami exile intent on assassinating him.
Both the Republicans in Congress and the American-Cuban community in exile have been speaking out against the warming relations.
He was eventually allowed to leave, but he was forced to resign as ambassador and now lives in Washington, effectively in exile.
Pakistan’s Dance With Terrorists Just Backfired and Killed 132 ChildrenChris Allbritton
December 17, 2014
From here I have the chance to blog in Arabic and in English as “Proud Atheist,” but I am now effectively in exile.
Iran has the highest number of women journalists in prison, and hundreds of Iranian journalists are forced to live in exile.
Historical Examples
A vote was taken on the question of exile, and the black pebbles predominated.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
The best of his works is the Olympian Zeus, made at Elis after his exile.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
For each of the fallen wishes to feel that his exile is self-terminable.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
She remembered the bitterness of her month's exile, and its probable cause.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
Miss Baker talked persistently about Bermuda; as if my exile had ever been a possibility!
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
exile
- a prolonged, usually enforced absence from one's home or country; banishment
- the expulsion of a person from his native land by official decree
- a person banished or living away from his home or country; expatriate
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- to expel from home or country, esp by official decree as a punishment; banish
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Word Origin
C13: from Latin exsilium banishment, from exsul banished person; perhaps related to Greek alasthai to wander
Exile
- the Exile another name for Babylonian captivity
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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 exile
v.
c.1300, from Old French essillier "exile, banish, expel, drive off," from Late Latin exilare/exsilare, from Latin exilium/exsilium "banishment, exile," from exul "banished person," from ex- "away" (see ex-) + PIE root *al- "to wander" (cf. Greek alaomai "to wander, stray, or roam about"). Second element derived in ancient times by folk etymology from Latin solum "soil." Related: Exiled; exiling.
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n.
c.1300, "forced removal from one's country;" early 14c. as "a banished person;" from Old French exil, essil (12c.), from Latin exilium (see exile (v.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper