ostracize
Americanverb (used with object)
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ostracizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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ostracized,
past participle, past
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ostracizing
present participle
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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
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to exclude or banish (a person) from a particular group, society, etc
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(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
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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
“We used to ostracize everyone, even each other.”
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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
Your view of her situation is admirable, and, by your skilful tactique, it is she herself that ostracizes the society that would only have accepted her on sufferance.
From The Fortunes Of Glencore by Charles James Lever
When they return to the U.S., such people often find themselves ostracized as paisa — country — and must learn the mores of American life, just like those born abroad.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
The actor complained that for a time, he was “relatively ostracized locally.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
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
Her being ostracized in season 2 is a direct result of her bad decisions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
“Bruno was bullied and ostracized, alone and afraid. The city was a large and unforgiving place. Especially for those who seemed different. Especially for those who had no family, no community.”
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
Her departure was not a quiet one: On her way out, she accused the club of ostracizing her by treating her differently from her teammates, of victimizing her again.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 1, 2023
Instead of ostracizing Black, some of the students tried to change his mind.
From Slate ● Jan. 11, 2023
Piednoir, the senator, said the players were ostracizing themselves.
From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 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
It sits in judgment not only on its own townsmen but on the rest of the world—enlightening, criticising, ostracizing a heedless universe—and non-conformity to Wentworth standards involves obliteration from Wentworth's consciousness.
From The Hermit and the Wild Woman by Edith Wharton
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.
