Meanings
excommunicate1
present singular third person excommunicates · participle present excommunicating · participle past excommunicated · past excommunicated
- transitiveTo officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community.
“Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It’s absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 2941 more example
The Vatican has excommunicated a rebel group of ultra-conservative Catholics who defied Pope Leo by ordaining bishops without his consent, creating a schism in the Roman Catholic church. […] “The Vatican hopes that by being harsh on the bishops, the priests and faithful, maybe some of them will repent and turn back to mother church. Because it’s not nice to be excommunicated.”
2026 July 2, Angela Giuffrida, “Vatican excommunicates all members of ultra-conservative rebel group SSPX”, in The Guardian, →ISSN - figurativelyhistoricaltransitiveTo exclude from any other group; to banish.
Although our Macs served us well, in those early, dark years Macintosh users were effectively excommunicated by the computer establishment.
1987, InfoWorld, volume 9, number 37, page 461 more example
Samois includes celebate ^([sic]), heterosexual and bisexual women as well as lesbians, and I feel very strongly that this is the wisest choice. Our community is so fragile that we can't afford to fragment it by excommunicating non-lesbian women.
1982 December 18, Pat Califa, “Open Policy”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 22, page 5
excommunicate2
- archaicnot comparableExcommunicated.
Thou ſhalt ſtand curſt, and excommunicate[…]
c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 9, column 21 more example
[…]the iewes had conſpyred allredy that yff eny man did confeſſe that he was Chriſt / he ſhulde be excommunicat out of the Sinagoge.
1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John ix:[22], folio cxxxiiij, verso
excommunicate3
plural excommunicates
- An excommunicated person.
Synonyms: excommunicant, excommunicatee
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn excommunicated person.
More synonyms by meaning
verbexclude from a church or a religious community
verboust or exclude from a group or membership by decree
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
excommunicate · verb
- Ecclesiastical Latinexcommunicātus
- Englishexcommunicate
From Ecclesiastical Latin excommunicātus, perfect passive participle of excommunicō (“excommunicate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). By surface analysis, ex- + communicate.
More words from Ecclesiastical Latin
Full word history & related roots →excommunicate · adjective
- Late Latinexcommunicātus
- Englishexcommunicate
From Ecclesiastical Latin, Late Latin excommunicātus, perfect passive participle of excommunicō (“put out of the community”). See -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more. Displaced native Old English āmǣnsumian.
More words from Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →excommunicate · noun
From a substantivation of the above adjective. See -ate (noun-forming suffix) for more.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic حَرَمَ
- حَرَمَ (ḥarama)to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Bulgarian отлъчвам от църквата
- отлъчвам от църквата (otlăčvam ot cărkvata)to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Catalan excomunicar
- excomunicarto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Danish ekskommunikere
- ekskommunikereto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Esperanto ekskomuniki
- ekskomunikito officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Finnish erottaa kirkosta, julistaa kirkonkiroukseen
- erottaa kirkostato officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- julistaa kirkonkiroukseento officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
French excommunier, bannir
- excommunierto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- bannirto exclude from any other group; to banish
German exkommunizieren, bannen
- exkommunizierento officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- bannento exclude from any other group; to banish
- verbannento exclude from any other group; to banish
Greek αφορίζω
- αφορίζω (aforízo)to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Hungarian kiközösít, kiközösít
- kiközösítto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- kiközösítto exclude from any other group; to banish
Italian scomunicare
- scomunicareto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Japanese 破門
- 破門to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Latin excommunicare
- excommunicareto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Norwegian Bokmål ekskommunisere, lyse i bann
- ekskommunisereto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- lyse i bannto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- bannlyseto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- utelukke fra den katolske kirketo officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Polish ekskomunikować, potępiać
- ekskomunikowaćto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- potępiaćto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- potępićto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- wyklinaćto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- wykląćto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Portuguese excomungar
- excomungarto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Russian изгоня́ть, изгна́ть
- изгоня́ть (izgonjátʹ)to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- изгна́ть (izgnátʹ)to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- выгоня́ть (vygonjátʹ)to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- вы́гнать (výgnatʹ)to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- отлуча́ть (otlučátʹ)to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- отлучи́ть (otlučítʹ)to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Spanish excomulgar
- excomulgarto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Thai บัพพาชนียกรรม, บัพพาชนียกรรม
- บัพพาชนียกรรม (bàp-paa-chá-nii-yá-gam)to officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- บัพพาชนียกรรม (bàp-paa-chá-nii-yá-gam)to exclude from any other group; to banish
Turkish aforoz etmek, aforoz etmek
- aforoz etmekto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- aforoz etmekto exclude from any other group; to banish
Welsh esgymuno, diaelodi
- esgymunoto officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
- diaelodito officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community
Cite this entry
excommunicate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excommunicate
“excommunicate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excommunicate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “excommunicate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excommunicate.
Source: excommunicate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.