ostracize
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Definition of ostracize
2 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included
verb
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(British, English, Oxford, US, historical, transitive)To ban a person from a city for five or ten years through the procedure of ostracism.
“Republics have been accused of being ungrateful. Aristides was ostracised for being called the Just, and Themistocles banished, after saving his country from desolation.”
“[T]he person who was ostracised was obliged to leave Athens within ten days after the sentence, and unless a vote of the people recalled him before the expiration of that time, to stay in exile for ten years.”
“The Athenian Hyperbolus, who had been ostracized some years before by the coalition of Nikias and Alkibiades, together with their respective partisans—ostracized (as Thucydides tells us) not from any fear of his power and over-transcendent influence, but from his bad character and from his being a disgrace to the city—and thus ostracized by an abuse of the institution—was now resident at Samos.”
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verb
-
(British, English, Oxford, US, historical, transitive)To ban a person from a city for five or ten years through the procedure of ostracism.
“Republics have been accused of being ungrateful. Aristides was ostracised for being called the Just, and Themistocles banished, after saving his country from desolation.”
“[T]he person who was ostracised was obliged to leave Athens within ten days after the sentence, and unless a vote of the people recalled him before the expiration of that time, to stay in exile for ten years.”
“The Athenian Hyperbolus, who had been ostracized some years before by the coalition of Nikias and Alkibiades, together with their respective partisans—ostracized (as Thucydides tells us) not from any fear of his power and over-transcendent influence, but from his bad character and from his being a disgrace to the city—and thus ostracized by an abuse of the institution—was now resident at Samos.”
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(British, English, Oxford, US, broadly)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.
“You then moſt Noble Equivocations and Alluſions, whom Rhetorick would Oſtraciſe, ſeek Revenge for your Baniſhment; [...]”
“The inflexible advocate[s] of the people's rights, were either expelled the Senate Chamber, ostracised, or immolated on the reeking altars of patriotism, by the encrimsoned sword of slaughtering persecution.”
“[O]thers may wonder at the mawkish taste of a community which, instead of ostracising such a palpable charlatan at once, attended and praised all that he had to say!”
“No party worthy of the name will submit, permanently, to any regime which ostracises its best men and selects the worst, which has become an epidemic condition of party politics, and may take off most of what is worth recognizing in the pride of our boasted institutions.”
“Fashion not only sustains bad writers, but ostracizes and banishes good ones. [William] Shakespeare's writings were popular while he lived, but almost forgotten for two centuries after his death.”
Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.
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.
Words you can make from ostracize
200+ playable · top: CRAZIEST (19 pts)
Best play craziest 19 points8-letter words
1 word7-letter words
15 words6-letter words
72 words- AZOTIC 17 pts
- COZIER 17 pts
- COZIES 17 pts
- CRAZES 17 pts
- CROZES 17 pts
- ZOECIA 17 pts
- AZOTES 15 pts
- ERSATZ 15 pts
- RITZES 15 pts
- SEIZOR 15 pts
- ZAIRES 15 pts
- ZOSTER 15 pts
- ACTORS 8 pts
- AORTIC 8 pts
- CARETS 8 pts
- CARIES 8 pts
- CARTES 8 pts
- CASTER 8 pts
- CASTOR 8 pts
- CATERS 8 pts
- CERIAS 8 pts
- CESTOI 8 pts
- CITERS 8 pts
- COARSE 8 pts
- COATER 8 pts
- COATIS 8 pts
- CORSET 8 pts
- COSIER 8 pts
- COSTAE 8 pts
- COSTAR 8 pts
- COSTER 8 pts
- CRATES 8 pts
- CRISTA 8 pts
- ERICAS 8 pts
- EROTIC 8 pts
- ESCORT 8 pts
- OCREAS 8 pts
- RACIST 8 pts
- REACTS 8 pts
- RECAST 8 pts
- RECITS 8 pts
- RECOAT 8 pts
- RECTOS 8 pts
- ROSACE 8 pts
- SCORIA 8 pts
- SCOTER 8 pts
- SCOTIA 8 pts
- SCROTA 8 pts
- SECTOR 8 pts
- STERIC 8 pts
- TAROCS 8 pts
- TORICS 8 pts
- TRACES 8 pts
- TRIACS 8 pts
- TRICES 8 pts
- AIREST 6 pts
- AORIST 6 pts
- ARIOSE 6 pts
- ARISTO 6 pts
- ARTSIE 6 pts
- OATERS 6 pts
- OATIER 6 pts
- ORATES 6 pts
- OSETRA 6 pts
- RATIOS 6 pts
- SATIRE 6 pts
- SATORI 6 pts
- SORTIE 6 pts
- STRIAE 6 pts
- TERAIS 6 pts
- TORIES 6 pts
- TRIOSE 6 pts
5-letter words
111 words- AZOIC 16 pts
- COZES 16 pts
- COZIE 16 pts
- CRAZE 16 pts
- CROZE 16 pts
- CZARS 16 pts
- AZOTE 14 pts
- IZARS 14 pts
- RAZES 14 pts
- SEIZA 14 pts
- SIZAR 14 pts
- SIZER 14 pts
- ACRES 7 pts
- ACROS 7 pts
- ACTOR 7 pts
- AREIC 7 pts
- ASCOT 7 pts
- CARES 7 pts
- CARET 7 pts
- CARSE 7 pts
- CARTE 7 pts
- CARTS 7 pts
- CASTE 7 pts
- CATER 7 pts
- CATES 7 pts
- CERIA 7 pts
- CEROS 7 pts
- CERTS 7 pts
- CESTA 7 pts
- CESTI 7 pts
- CIRES 7 pts
- CITER 7 pts
- CITES 7 pts
- COAST 7 pts
- COATI 7 pts
- COATS 7 pts
- COIRS 7 pts
- CORES 7 pts
- CORIA 7 pts
- CORSE 7 pts
- COSET 7 pts
- COSIE 7 pts
- COSTA 7 pts
- COTES 7 pts
- CRATE 7 pts
- CREST 7 pts
- CRIAS 7 pts
- CRIES 7 pts
- CRITS 7 pts
- ERICA 7 pts
- ESCAR 7 pts
- ESCOT 7 pts
- ETICS 7 pts
- OCREA 7 pts
- ORCAS 7 pts
- OSCAR 7 pts
- RACES 7 pts
- REACT 7 pts
- RECIT 7 pts
- RECTA 7 pts
- RECTI 7 pts
- RECTO 7 pts
- RICES 7 pts
- SAICE 7 pts
- SCARE 7 pts
- SCART 7 pts
- SCORE 7 pts
- SERAC 7 pts
- STOIC 7 pts
- TACES 7 pts
- TACOS 7 pts
- TAROC 7 pts
- AIRTS 5 pts
- ARISE 5 pts
- AROSE 5 pts
- ASTER 5 pts
- ASTIR 5 pts
- IOTAS 5 pts
- IRATE 5 pts
- OATER 5 pts
- ORATE 5 pts
- OSIER 5 pts
- OSTIA 5 pts
- RAISE 5 pts
- RATES 5 pts
- RATIO 5 pts
- RATOS 5 pts
- REAIS 5 pts
- RESAT 5 pts
- RESIT 5 pts
- RETIA 5 pts
- RIOTS 5 pts
- RITES 5 pts
- ROAST 5 pts
- ROSET 5 pts
- ROSTI 5 pts
- ROTAS 5 pts
- ROTES 5 pts
- ROTIS 5 pts
- SERAI 5 pts
- SITAR 5 pts
- SORTA 5 pts
- STAIR 5 pts
- STARE 5 pts
- STOAE 5 pts
- STOAI 5 pts
- STORE 5 pts
- STRIA 5 pts
- TARES 5 pts
- TAROS 5 pts
- TARSI 5 pts
Hooks
2 extensions · 2 back
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