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• exodus
  exodus

  noun

  a going out; a departure or emigration, usually of a large number of people.
• Exodus
  Exodus

  noun

  the departure of the Israelites from Egypt led by Moses

exodus

American  

[ek-suh-duhs] / ˈɛk sə dəs /

noun

1. a going out; a departure or emigration, usually of a large number of people.

   the summer exodus to the country and shore.

2. the Exodus, the departure of the Israelites from Egypt under Moses.

3. (initial capital letter) the second book of the Bible, containing an account of the Exodus. Ex.

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exodus ¹ British  

/ ˈɛksədəs /

noun

1. the act or an instance of going out

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Exodus ² British  

/ ˈɛksədəs /

noun

1. the departure of the Israelites from Egypt led by Moses

2. the second book of the Old Testament, recounting the events connected with this and the divine visitation of Moses at Mount Sinai

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Exodus Cultural  

1. The second book of the Old Testament; it tells of the departure of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt (see also Egypt), made possible by the ten plagues of Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea. Moses led them, and their destination was the Promised Land. God guided them by sending a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to show them the way they should go. God also fed them with manna and gave them water out of a solid rock. Because of their frequent complaining and failure to trust him, however, God made them stay in the desert for forty years before entering the Promised Land. God gave them the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Mosaic law on Mount Sinai during the Exodus. Exodus is a Greek word meaning “departure.”

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Etymology

Origin of exodus

First recorded before 1000; from Late Latin, the name of the second book of the Bible, from Greek éxodos “a going out, marching out,” equivalent to ex- “out of” + (h)odós “way”; see ex- ³

Explanation

If the fire alarm goes off in your building, be sure to join the exodus of people who are heading outside to the parking lot. This is a departure of a large number of people. Exodus is the title of the second book of the Bible’s Old Testament in which the Israelites escape slavery in Egypt, but the term can refer to any sudden departure of a group of people. This noun is often coupled with the adjective mass, as in “mass exodus,” which usually indicates that almost everyone leaves at the same time. The reasons for this departure can be hostile, as during a war, or not, as when everyone exits the movie theater after the show's over.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

exodus Exodus

An exodus of rural migrants to postwar Washington, D.C., sparked a country-music boom that transformed that city’s nightlife.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

The exodus and the ageing of the ethnic Slavic population -- many descendants of people forcibly resettled there in the Soviet era -- and the lack of economic prospects are all driving the internal migration.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

Her reorientation of the division led to a mass exodus of career staff — nearly three-quarters of the roughly 400 attorneys who were there at the beginning of 2025, by Dhillon’s telling.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026

And while the big exodus ended years ago, the east still has a more pronounced shortage of young people and skilled workers than the west.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

So the Osage bought the territory for seventy cents per acre and, in the early 1870s, began their exodus.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Exodus 35:1 introduces Shabbos with the word Vayakhel—from kahal, meaning community.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

The Book of Exodus famously renders this principle as “an eye for an eye,” making revenge anatomical, as if it were as natural as we are.

From Salon ● May 19, 2026

Operation Exodus was an enormous undertaking, one that was profoundly meaningful to the crew because, as McDiarmid said, “it wasn’t about weapons and technology and missile silos. These were human beings.”

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025

Even so, Exodus was at an impasse when Hammett got an unexpected call from Metallica.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2025

The Pharaoh died, says Exodus, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of their bondage.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Related Words

• departure
• evacuation
• flight
• migration
• withdrawal