banishment

/ˈbænɪʃmɪnt/

/ˈbænɪʃmənt/

Other forms: banishments

When someone is punished by being made to leave a particular place, it's called banishment. If your new puppy chews up another of your dad's shoes, it may mean banishment to the backyard.

In the old days, banishment was a common punishment for serious crimes — exiling someone from their town or village was shameful, leaving them estranged from their family and community. One particularly well-known banishment occurs in the Bible, when Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden. Today it's more common to use this word in a less serious way: "My banishment from the kitchen was inevitable after I broke three glasses in a row."

Definitions of banishment

1. noun

   rejection by means of an act of banishing or proscribing someone
   synonyms: proscription

   types:

   anathematisation, anathematization

   the formal act of pronouncing (someone or something) accursed

   disbarment

   the act of expelling a lawyer from the practice of law

   ejection, exclusion, expulsion, riddance

   the act of forcing out someone or something

   deportation, exile, expatriation, transportation

   the act of expelling a person from their native land

   excision, excommunication

   the act of banishing a member of a church from the communion of believers and the privileges of the church; cutting a person off from a religious society

   relegation

   mild banishment; consignment to an inferior position

   rustication

   banishment into the country

   defenestration

   the act of throwing someone or something out of a window

   deportation

   the expulsion of a non-citizen from a country

   ostracism

   the act of excluding someone from society by general consent

   barring, blackball

   the act of excluding someone by a negative vote or veto

   ouster, ousting

   the act of ejecting someone or forcing them out

   type of:

   rejection

   the act of rejecting something
2. noun

   the state of being banished or ostracized (excluded from society by general consent)
   synonyms: Coventry, ostracism

   type of:

   exclusion

   the state of being excluded