banish

/ˈbænɪʃ/

/ˈbænɪʃ/

Other forms: banished; banishing; banishes

To banish is to get rid of. Think very carefully before you banish someone from your group. Someday, you may want that person around again.

Banish rhymes with vanish, which is exactly what happens when you banish someone. Suppose a king, angry with some of his subjects, banishes them. They have to leave the kingdom and vanish — not just go home and wait for the king to change his mind. Banish comes from the Old French word bannir, which means "proclaim as an outlaw." It is serious and absolute. You can see the word ban in banish, but to ban something is not as harsh as banishing it.

Definitions of banish

1. verb

   expel, as if by official decree
   “he was banished from his own country”

   synonyms: bar, relegate

   types:

   spike

   stand in the way of

   type of:

   expel, kick out, throw out

   force to leave or move out
2. verb

   expel from a community or group
   synonyms: ban, blackball, cast out, ostracise, ostracize, shun

   type of:

   expel, kick out, throw out

   force to leave or move out
3. verb

   ban from a place of residence, as for punishment
   synonyms: ban

   types:

   rusticate

   send to the country

   type of:

   expel, kick out, throw out

   force to leave or move out
4. verb

   drive away
   “banish bad thoughts”

   “banish gloom”

   type of:

   chase away, dispel, drive away, drive off, drive out, run off, turn back

   force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings