Definition of "ostracism" []

• The act of banishing or excluding. (noun)
• Banishment or exclusion from a group; disgrace. (noun)
• In Athens and other cities of ancient Greece, the temporary banishment by popular vote of a citizen considered dangerous to the state. (noun)

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.

• "The word ostracism comes from the Greek word signifying"
• "Social ostracism from the family of nations with all that it would involve would be the sufficient penalty, so sufficient that it would never have to be invoked against any of those who resorted to the court."
• "From this practice derives the modern word ostracism"