freeze out

verb

1. informal,  (tr, adverb) to force out or exclude, as by unfriendly behaviour, boycotting, etc

Idioms and Phrases

Shut out or exclude by unfriendly treatment; force to retire or withdraw from membership, a job, or the like. For example, They tried to freeze me out of the conversation, or After Bill was frozen out of the case, they hired a new lawyer. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

It heralded the NBA's return to China for the first time since being effectively frozen out of the country in 2019 after a team official tweeted support for democracy protests in Hong Kong.

Read more on Barron's

The EPP sits atop an unwieldy coalition of these three factions, designed to freeze out parties of the insurgent right that did well in last year’s European Parliament elections.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But why would a goalkeeper, favourite to be crowned the world's best this year, be frozen out like this?

Read more on BBC

After Gables filed the police report he was “frozen out of the hip-hop music industry,” the complaint alleges.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Although there is great uncertainty, right now it looks like the federal government is freezing out Golden State libraries altogether.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• ban 
• deny 
• disallow 
• discourage 
• eliminate 
• enjoin 
• exclude 
• forbid 
• hinder 
• limit 
• outlaw 
• preclude 
• prevent 
• refuse 
• reject 
• restrain 
• rule out 
• segregate 
• stop 
• suspend