Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To deprive of the right of church membership by ecclesiastical authority.
  • transitive verb To exclude by or as if by decree from membership or participation in a group.
  • noun A person who has been excommunicated.
  • adjective Having been excommunicated.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Cut off from communion; excommunicated.
  • noun One who is excommunicated; one cut off from any privilege.
  • Eccles., to cut off by an ecclesiastical sentence, either from the sacraments of the church or from all fellowship and intercourse with its members. See excommunication.
  • Hence To expel from and deprive of the privileges of membership in any association.
  • To prohibit on pain of excommunication.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Excommunicated; interdicted from the rites of the church.
  • transitive verb To put out of communion; especially, to cut off, or shut out, from communion with the church, by an ecclesiastical sentence.
  • transitive verb To lay under the ban of the church; to interdict.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Excommunicated.
  • noun A person so excluded.
  • verb transitive To officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community.
  • verb transitive To exclude from any other group; to banish.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb oust or exclude from a group or membership by decree
  • verb exclude from a church or a religious community

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English excommunicaten, from Late Latin excommūnicāre, excommūnicāt- : Latin ex-, ex- + Latin commūnicāre, to share (from commūnis, common; see common).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Late Latin excommunicātus, perfect passive participle of excommunicō ("put out of the community").

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Examples

  • This is it that the faithful stood in fear of, as long as they stood excommunicate, that is to say, in an estate wherein their sins were not forgiven.

    Leviathan 2007

  • This is it that the faithful stood in fear of, as long as they stood excommunicate, that is to say, in an estate wherein their sins were not forgiven.

    Leviathan, or, The matter, forme, & power of a common-wealth ecclesiasticall and civill 1651

  • It is time to "excommunicate" those who tarnish the reputation of the GOP with infidelity, scandal, and lawbreaking actions.

    Johnston says Palin lost his vote 2009

  • One of the tactics that has been used by some elements of the official structures of American Jewish organizations has been to attempt to "excommunicate" some critics of Israel by calling them "self-hating Jews" or "enablers of anti-Semitism."

    Rabbi Arthur Waskow: Renewing Jewish Culture or Excommunicating Jewish Thinkers? 2008

  • They wouldn't use terms like 'excommunicate' and 'anathema', of course.

    Proudly apostate, that's me Mike L 2007

  • They wouldn't use terms like 'excommunicate' and 'anathema', of course.

    Archive 2007-07-01 Mike L 2007

  • Athanasius, but had the impudence to "excommunicate" Pope Julius himself.

    Saint Athanasius The Father of Orthodoxy 1902

  • When those within a community try to "excommunicate" and dishonor truth-tellers, it is our obligation and responsibility to speak out vehemently on their behalf and on behalf of the truth they bring.

    MRZine.org 2009

  • Your Excellency, the words "excommunicate", and "mortal sin" come to mind ...

    Latest Articles 2008

  • This might be funny, if it weren't for the fact that 1) the catholic church has done nothing to those accused of paedophilia, and has gone so far as to shield the abusers, and 2) they probably would "excommunicate" the women that become "priests"!!!

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

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