excommunicate

/ˌɛkskəmˈjunəˌkeɪt/

Other forms: excommunicated; excommunicating; excommunicates

To excommunicate someone is to officially banish them from their church. In everyday usage, this word can also refer to expelling or excluding someone from any kind of group. The science club might excommunicate you if you declare that the earth is flat.

If a congregant breaks an important church rule, its leaders might formally remove — or excommunicate—that person. This word comes from the Late Latin excommunicare, "put out of the community," or in Church Latin, "expel from communion." To excommunicate a Christian means, in part, that they can't participate in church rituals including the sacrament of communion and are no longer part of the community.

Definitions of excommunicate

1. verb

   exclude from a church or a religious community
   synonyms: curse, unchurch

   antonyms:

   communicate

   administer Communion; in church

   commune, communicate

   receive Communion, in the Catholic church

   type of:

   exclude, keep out, shut, shut out

   prevent from entering; shut out
2. verb

   oust or exclude from a group or membership by decree
   synonyms:

   curse, unchurch

   exclude from a church or a religious community

   type of:

   boot out, drum out, expel, kick out, oust, throw out

   remove from a position or office