Word Study
excommunicate
CIDE DICTIONARY
excommunicate, a. [L. excommunicatus, p. p. of communicare to excommunicate; ex out + communicare. See Communicate.].
Excommunicated; interdicted from the rites of the church. [1913 Webster]
"Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate." [1913 Webster]
excommunicate, v. t.
- To put out of communion; especially, to cut off, or shut out, from communion with the church, by an ecclesiastical sentence. [1913 Webster]
- To lay under the ban of the church; to interdict. [1913 Webster]"Martin the Fifth . . . was the first that excommunicated the reading of heretical books." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
excommunicate, v., adj., & n. Eccl.
--v.tr. officially exclude (a person) from participation in the sacraments, or from formal communion with the Church.
--adj. excommunicated.
--n. an excommunicated person.
--v.tr. officially exclude (a person) from participation in the sacraments, or from formal communion with the Church.
--adj. excommunicated.
--n. an excommunicated person.
Derivative
excommunication n. excommunicative adj. excommunicator n. excommunicatory adj.
Etymology
L excommunicare -atus (as EX-(1), communis COMMON)
THESAURUS
excommunicate
accurse, anathematize, attaint, ban, banish, blackball, blacklist, blaspheme, blast, break, bring home to, bust, cashier, cast out, censure, condemn, confound, convict, curse, cut, damn, darn, deconsecrate, defrock, denounce, denunciate, deport, depose, dethrone, disbar, discrown, disenthrone, disfellowship, dismiss, displace, doom, drum out, exclude, execrate, exile, expatriate, expel, extradite, find guilty, fugitate, fulminate against, give the gate, hex, imprecate, kick upstairs, liquidate, ostracize, oust, outlaw, overthrow, pass sentence on, penalize, pension, pension off, pronounce judgment, pronounce sentence, proscribe, purge, read out of, relegate, remove, remove from office, retire, rusticate, send to Coventry, sentence, snub, spurn, strip of office, strip of rank, superannuate, suspend, throw a whammy, thrust out, thunder against, transport, unchurch, unfrock, unsaddle, unseat, unthroneROGET THESAURUS
excommunicate
Rite
VB perform service, do duty, minister, officiate, baptize, dip, sprinkle, anoint, confirm, lay hands on, give the sacrament, administer the sacrament, administer extreme unction, hear confession, administer holy penance, shrive, excommunicate, ban with bell book and candle, attend services, attend mass, go to mass, hear mass, take the sacrament, receive the sacrament, receive communion, attend the sacrament, partake of the sacrament, partake of communion, communicate, receive extreme unction, confess, go to confession, receive penance, anele, preach, sermonize, predicate, lecture.Exclusion
VB be excluded from, exclude, bar, leave out, shut out, bar out, reject, repudiate, blackball, lay apart, put apart, set apart, lay aside, put aside, relegate, segregate, throw overboard, strike off, strike out, neglect, banish, separate, pass over, omit, garble, eliminate, weed, winnow, be secluded, live secluded, keep aloof, stand, hold oneself aloof, keep in the background, stand in the background, keep snug, shut oneself up, deny oneself, seclude oneself creep into a corner, rusticate, aller planter ses choux, retire, retire from the world, take the veil, abandon, sport one's oak, cut, cut dead, refuse to associate with, refuse to acknowledge, look cool upon, turn one's back upon, shut the door upon, repel, blackball, excommunicate, exclude, exile, expatriate, banish, outlaw, maroon, ostracize, proscribe, cut off from, send to Coventry, keep at arm's length, draw a cordon round, depopulate, dispeople, unpeople.Malediction
VB curse, accurse, imprecate, damn, swear at, curse with bell book and candle, invoke curses on the head of, call down curses on the head of, devote to destruction, execrate, beshrew, scold, anathematize, bold up to execration, denounce, proscribe, excommunicate, fulminate, thunder against, threaten, curse and swear, swear, swear like a trooper, fall a cursing, rap out an oath, damn.For further exploring for "excommunicate" in Webster Dictionary Online