exodus

[ ek-suh-duhs ]

noun

1. a going out; a departure or emigration, usually of a large number of people:

   the summer exodus to the country and shore.

2. the Exodus, the departure of the Israelites from Egypt under Moses.
3. (initial capital letter) the second book of the Bible, containing an account of the Exodus. : Ex.

Exodus

¹

/ ˈɛksədəs /

noun

1. the Exodus
   the departure of the Israelites from Egypt led by Moses
2. the second book of the Old Testament, recounting the events connected with this and the divine visitation of Moses at Mount Sinai

exodus

²

/ ˈɛksədəs /

noun

1. the act or an instance of going out

Exodus

1. The second book of the Old Testament ; it tells of the departure of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt (see also Egypt ), made possible by the ten plagues of Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea . Moses led them, and their destination was the Promised Land . God guided them by sending a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to show them the way they should go. God also fed them with manna and gave them water out of a solid rock. Because of their frequent complaining and failure to trust him, however, God made them stay in the desert for forty years before entering the Promised Land. God gave them the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Mosaic law on Mount Sinai during the Exodus. Exodus is a Greek word meaning “departure.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of exodus¹

First recorded before 1000; from Late Latin, the name of the second book of the Bible, from Greek éxodos “a going out, marching out,” equivalent to ex- “out of” + (h)odós “way”; ex- ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of exodus¹

C17: via Latin from Greek exodos from ex- ¹+ hodos way

Example Sentences

When companies don’t do what they say, we see mass exoduses and even lawsuits, as has recently been the case at Pinterest and Carta.

From TechCrunch

The exodus isn’t necessarily good news, according to Batt and other experts.

From ProPublica

Unsurprisingly, the mass exodus of the well-to-do inspired contempt among those who didn’t have the option of motoring out to their second home on Long Island or in the Catskills.

From Outside Online

So the Florida Legislature created a state-run company to insure properties itself, preventing both an exodus and an economic collapse by essentially pretending that the climate vulnerabilities didn’t exist.

From ProPublica

Indeed, with early evidence of an exodus from cities to suburbs amid shutdowns, new homebuyers may well be game to buy a fixer-upper.

From Fortune

Maybe even a mass exodus of Venezuelan women looking to get breast implants done in Colombia.

From The Daily Beast

But the day before the final exodus, Christians were informed jizya was no longer an option.

From The Daily Beast

If the bill were to become law, Vinnichenko predicts “a mass exodus” of LGBT families, including her own.

From The Daily Beast

For New Yorkers, the mass exodus tends to have one destination in mind: The Hamptons.

From The Daily Beast

But does the talent exodus signal trouble at the paper or only a changed media landscape?

From The Daily Beast

There was no crowding or impeding haste in their dumb exodus.

From Project Gutenberg

From the city there was reported exodus of men whose names were enrolled for military service.

From Project Gutenberg

We saw the blonde behind the wheel and Uncle Peter seated beside her, evidently still protesting the hasty exodus.

From Project Gutenberg

One hears a frightful lot of nonsense about the Rural Exodus and the degeneration wrought by town life upon our population.

From Project Gutenberg

In a big pastoral exodus like the present, it is simply impossible to keep strays out of moving herds.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• departure
• evacuation
• flight
• migration
• withdrawal