ostracize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to exclude, by general consent, from society, friendship, conversation, privileges, etc..
His friends ostracized him after his father's arrest.
- Antonyms:
- accept
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to banish (a person) from their native country; expatriate.
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(in ancient Greece) to banish (a citizen) temporarily by popular vote.
verb
-
to exclude or banish (a person) from a particular group, society, etc
-
(in ancient Greece) to punish by temporary exile
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ostracizesimple
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ostracizessimple
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have ostracizedperfect
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has ostracizedperfect
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am ostracizingprogressive
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are ostracizingprogressive
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is ostracizingprogressive
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have been ostracizingperfect progressive
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has been ostracizingperfect progressive
Past
-
ostracizedsimple
-
had ostracizedperfect
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was ostracizingprogressive
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were ostracizingprogressive
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had been ostracizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ostracize
First recorded in 1640–50; from Greek ostrakízein, equivalent to óstrak(on) “potsherd, tile, ballot” (akin to óstreion oyster ( def. ) ) + -izein -ize ( def. )
Explanation
If you banish someone or ignore him, you ostracize him. When the Iranian president claimed that the Holocaust was a hoax, he was ostracized by the international community. Ostraka is an ancient Greek word for pottery shard. Thousands of years ago, in the Greek city of Athens, there was a public process where you would write the name of someone you wanted to kick out of town on a broken ceramic fragment. If enough Athenians wrote the same name, that person was sent away for ten years. This process was called an ostracism.
Vocabulary lists containing ostracize
Grade 10, List 2
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100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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The Catcher in the Rye
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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.
See Examples For:
When the Athenians voted to ostracize him, he became a Persian governor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
“The Traitors” is a social game, so when Funches’ early big swing at another contestant misses terribly, the rest of the players instantly ostracize him.
From Salon ● Jan. 28, 2026
“It is never my intent to ostracize or diminish.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
Rather than ostracize the neighborhood’s teenagers, he wants to find ways to engage them and show them the value of being part of a culture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
I want to see the kingdom ostracize him.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Will's signature swagger, which was once-revered in his old town, now ostracizes him from his peers and loved ones.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2022
The film portrays how Japanese society, often working like a claustrophobic village, ostracizes and punishes what it sees as erring individuals.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 24, 2021
Mesa County’s “siloed, non-collaborative behavior ostracizes us from our Western Slope neighbors,” she added.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 6, 2019
A man searches for answers a decade after his close-knit high school clique inexplicably ostracizes him.
From Slate ● Nov. 30, 2014
He is at once dishonored; society ostracizes him.
From Black Diamonds by Jókai, Mór
And now, all of these years later, you feel ostracized from your remaining family and, more than that, you were left with a few mementoes of those formative years and no inheritance.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
“To find we have been ostracized for practicing as Catholics have done for 2000 years is of great anxiety to us.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
But pro-Soviet intellectuals ostracized him when he dared to speak honestly about life behind the Iron Curtain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
The night ends early, and Craig is ostracized from the group.
From Salon ● May 12, 2025
It was a different psychological environment, where my normal expectations were inverted, where leadership was honored and class clowns were ostracized.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
The request, Del Real-Calleros told me, “brought back memories — terrible memories” of suffering the same ostracizing both in the Lynwood schools and within his Mexican immigrant community.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2023
Instead of ostracizing Black, some of the students tried to change his mind.
From Slate ● Jan. 11, 2023
What democracies need, he added, are investments in improvements — the best ideas, no matter where they come from — and a strong commitment to ostracizing those who violate rules and norms.
From New York Times ● Nov. 8, 2022
“The real harm to transgender youth lies in the bullying and ostracizing that they face for being branded as ‘different.’”
From Washington Times ● Mar. 9, 2022
"Yes, in the main, papa, but to be frank, I don't enjoy this ostracizing business, and I hope I won't have any more of it to do."
From The Earth Trembled by Roe, Edward Payson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
