noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of expulsion
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin expulsiōn- (stem of expulsiō ), equivalent to expuls ( us ) driven out (past participle of expellere to expel ) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Don't ever make a joke about a bomb on an airplane, if you don't want to risk expulsion. Expulsion is being kicked out of something, like a club, a school, or an airplane. If a Girl Scout ate all the cookies she'd already sold, she might face expulsion from her Girl Scout troop, and an unruly high school student who threatens to hit a teacher risks expulsion from school. Historically, many religious and minority groups faced expulsion from countries where their beliefs weren't tolerated. In fact, the Latin root word of expulsion is expellere, "to drive out."
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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:
He was expelled from Prairie View A&M University in 1971 after protesting against the expulsion of the editor of the student newspaper.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Most of the migrants who entered Ceuta have returned to Morocco, but thousands have remained in often dire living conditions, increasing tensions in the city as residents demand their expulsion.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Censure is a public rebuke and is the most serious statement of disapproval short of expulsion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Rejecting an appeal by the family, Migration Court of Appeal documents state "when weighing up the state's interest in regulated immigration" and Mason's "private life", it determined expulsion was "proportionate".
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
I recalled my expulsion, feeling quick anger and attempting to suppress it immediately; but now I was not quite successful, my resentment stuck out at the edges, making me uncomfortable.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
The expulsions from Pakistan and alleged abuse intensified after a major escalation in fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan last October.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
Then it flashes back to the 1490s expulsions of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, which triggered migrations to other European countries, North Africa and the New World.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Sultana boycotted the conference on Saturday over those expulsions, plunging the trouble-hit party into a fresh crisis.
From Barron's ● Nov. 30, 2025
Uyeki said the stories of people who lived through the expulsions, including Dock, are still being unearthed by researchers and volunteers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2025
Then he laughed without sound, without moving his lips; it was three short expulsions of breath forced upward through his nostrils by the heaving of his chest.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
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.
