excommunicate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to officially exclude someone from participation or membership in a church or religious community

   Church authorities threatened to excommunicate the rebellious cleric.

2. 2
   verb

   to expel or exclude someone from any group or community; formal or figurative

   The association effectively excommunicated members who challenged its leadership.

From Late Latin excommunicare, 'to put out of the community,' built from ex-, 'out of,' + communicare, 'to share or make common.' Its formal church sense later extended figuratively to exclusion from other groups.

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