rusticate

R1U1S1T1I1C3A1T1E1
/ˈrʌstɪkeɪt/

verb

To be suspended or expelled temporarily from the university, either compulsorily or voluntarily.

“I was very unwell, so I had to rusticate for a year.”

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Scrabble 11

Meanings

verbrusticate (third-person singular simple present rusticates, present participle rusticating, simple past and past participle rusticated)

present singular third person rusticates · participle present rusticating · participle past rusticated · past rusticated

  1. ambitransitiveDurham UniversityTo be suspended or expelled temporarily from the university, either compulsorily or voluntarily.

    I was very unwell, so I had to rusticate for a year.

    3 more examples

    The college rusticated him after he failed all his exams.

    Pen looked at his early acquaintance,—who had been plucked, who had been rusticated, who had only, after repeated failures, learned to read and write correctly, and who, in spite of all these drawbacks, had attained the honour of a degree.

    1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XXI, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

    "You don't think he'll rusticate us, or any thing of that sort?" said Tom, who had felt horrible twinges at the captain's picture of the effects of rustication on ordinary mortals.

    1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “The Captain’s Notions”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 1st, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 192
  2. transitiveTo construct so as to produce jagged or heavily textured surfaces.
  3. transitiveTo compel to live in or to send to the countryside; to cause to become rustic.
  4. intransitiveTo go to reside in the country.

    So alarming did the state of my finances become, that I soon realized that I must either leave the metropolis and rusticate somewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete alteration in my style of living.

    1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […]), chapter I (Mr. Sherlock Holmes), page 2

Synonyms & antonyms

verbsuspend temporarily from college or university, in England

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinrūsticātus
  2. Englishrusticate

Borrowed from Latin rūsticātus, perfect active participle of rūsticor (“to live in the countryside”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), originally in the same sense. First attested in the mid-17th century. By surface analysis, rustic + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Czech vyloučit ze studií
  • vyloučit ze studiísuspend or expel from a college or university
French limoger
  • limogersuspend or expel from a college or university
German exmatrikulieren, zwangsexmatrikulieren
  • exmatrikulierensuspend or expel from a college or university
  • zwangsexmatrikulierensuspend or expel from a college or university
  • aufs Land ziehento go to reside in the country
Cite this entry
APA

rusticate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rusticate

MLA

“rusticate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rusticate. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rusticate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rusticate.

Source: rusticate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.