banish

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb expel from a community or group
  2. verb ban from a place of residence, as for punishment
  3. verb expel, as if by official decree

Etymology

From Middle English banishen, from Old French baniss-, extended stem of banir (“to proclaim, ban, banish”), of Germanic origin and Old English bannan, from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“curse, forbid”). Compare French bannir. Doublet of ban.

In classic literature

Synonyms

ban, ostracize, ostracise, shun, cast out, blackball

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