expel
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to drive or force out or away; discharge or eject.
to expel air from the lungs; to expel an invader from a country.
-
to cut off from membership or relations.
to expel a student from a college.
- Synonyms:
- excommunicate, exile, dismiss, oust
verb
-
to eject or drive out with force
-
to deprive of participation in or membership of a school, club, etc
Other Word Forms
- expellable adjective
- expellee noun
- expeller noun
- reexpel verb (used with object)
- unexpellable adjective
Etymology
Origin of expel
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English expellen, from Latin expellere “to drive out, drive away,” equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + pellere “to push, drive”
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.
Here’s another example: The government wanted to expel a Guatemalan refugee to Mexico.
From Slate • Feb. 28, 2026
In September 2020, Belarusian security officers tried to forcibly expel her from the country but at the border with Ukraine, she tore up her passport to prevent her deportation.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 13, 2025
The woman cried and begged guards for days after to help her get pills to expel the fetuses — help that did not come before Pineda left the facility.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2025
It has suffered four significant marine heatwaves between 2016 and 2022, causing much of its coral to expel the algae which gives them life and colour - a process called bleaching, which is often fatal.
From BBC • Nov. 5, 2025
Dark seams radiated outwards like a shotgun blast of ink, as if Nico’s body were trying to expel all the shadows he’d travelled through.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
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.
