excommunicate

American  

[eks-kuh-myoo-ni-keyt, eks-kuh-myoo-ni-kit, -keyt] / ˌɛks kəˈmyu nɪˌkeɪt, ˌɛks kəˈmyu nɪ kɪt, -ˌkeɪt /

verb (used with object)

excommunicated, excommunicating

1. to cut off from communion with a church or exclude from the sacraments of a church by ecclesiastical sentence.

2. to exclude or expel from membership or participation in any group, association, etc..

   an advertiser excommunicated from a newspaper.

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noun

1. an excommunicated person.

adjective

1. cut off from communion with a church; excommunicated.

excommunicate British  

verb

1. (tr) to sentence (a member of the Church) to exclusion from the communion of believers and from the privileges and public prayers of the Church

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adjective

1. having incurred such a sentence

noun

1. an excommunicated person

Other Word Forms

• excommunicable adjective
• excommunication noun
• excommunicative adjective
• excommunicator noun
• unexcommunicated adjective

Etymology

Origin of excommunicate

1375–1425; late Middle English excommunicaten (v.) < Late Latin excommūnicātus literally, put out of the community (past participle of excommūnicāre ), equivalent to ex- ex- ¹ + commūn ( is ) common, public + -ic- (by analogy with commūnicāre to communicate ) + -ātus -ate ¹

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

So, the court's guidelines will also help decide whether women can be denied entry into Parsi temples and Muslim mosques, whether religious leaders can excommunicate people and the legality of female genital mutilation.

From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026

After the service, journalists were asked to leave while members voted on a move of “church discipline” to excommunicate Long under the church’s bylaws.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 21, 2021

“They can’t excommunicate me because I am not going anywhere,” she says.

From New York Times • May 22, 2020

In the same year, Napoleon annexed the Papal States in central Italy, prompting Pope Pius VII to excommunicate him.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020

Such a pair were once sent with bulls to excommunicate Barnabas Visconti, but Barnabas only made them eat their bulls—parchment, ribbons, leaden seals and all.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White