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Definition of "exorcise" []

  • To expel (an evil spirit) by or as if by incantation, command, or prayer. (verb-transitive)
  • To free from evil spirits or malign influences. (verb-transitive)

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 "exorcise" in a sentence
  • "I couldn't shake it off and I ended up wearing a shirt with their name on it to kind of exorcise the ghost, and I guess I did it by writing this song about it."
  • "The reverend's tactics may be unusual — he's been known to leap on shop counters in order to "exorcise" cash registers — but his message of modest spending is increasingly mainstream."
  • "Up to 15,000 children in Nigeria's Akwa Ibom and Cross River states alone have been branded witches by rogue pastors, who charge large sums to "exorcise" them...."