ostracize

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb

To ban a person from a city for five or ten years through the procedure of ostracism.
To exclude a person from a community or from society by not communicating with them or by refusing to acknowledge their presence; to refuse to associate with or talk to; to shun.

Pronunciation

/ˈɒstɹəsaɪz/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-ostracize.wav /ˈɑstɹəˌsaɪz/ /ˈɒstɹəˌsaɪz/ /ˈɔstɹəsɑez/ [ˈɔ̟stɹəsɑe̯z]

Word forms

ostracize ostracizes ostracizing ostracized ostracise

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὀστρακίζω (ostrakízō, “to banish from a city by ostracism”), from ὄστρᾰκον (óstrăkon, “earthenware vessel; fragment of such a vessel, potsherd”) (from the fact that when voting was held to decide whether to banish people, their names were inscribed on potsherds) + -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō, suffix forming verbs)). The English word is cognate with French ostraciser.

Synonyms

blackball cut someone dead give someone the cold shoulder send to Coventry leper brush off discount disregard dissemble despise ignore misheed misregard neglect pass pass by pay no heed put aside set at nought shrug off slough take no notice of tune out unheed unmind

Antonyms

attend clock consider give heed heed let in on mark mind notice pass pay attention pay heed pick up what someone is putting down privy regard take heed take note take notice

Related words

ostracism ostracon ostrakon ostracum ostracy silent treatment

Derived words

ostracizable ostracisable ostracization ostracisation ostracized ostracised ostracizer ostraciser ostracizing ostracising unostracized unostracised

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

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