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Definition of "excommunicate" []

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

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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