ostracize

Syllables: os·trac·ize/ˈɑstɹəˌsaɪz//ˈɒstɹəsaɪz/

ostracize verb: to ban a person from a city for five or ten years through the procedure of ostracism.

Image: Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

ostracize (third-person singular simple present ostracizes, present participle ostracizing, simple past and past participle ostracized)

(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.1836 December 15, Eleazer Wheelock Ripley, “The President’s Message”, in Register of Debates in Congress, Comprising the Leading Debates and Incidents of the Second Session of the Twenty-fourth...
- [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.1840, “OSTRACISM”, in [George Long], editor, The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, volumes XVII (Organ–Pertinax), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], →OCLC, page...
(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; [...]1704, [Antoine Furetière], “Bombast’s Speech to His Army”, in The Rebellion: Or, An Account of the Late Civil-wars, in the Kingdom of Eloquence, London: Printed [for John Nutt ...], →OCLC, page 48
- 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.1811 July 4, Henry A[lexander] S[cammell] Dearborn, An Oration, Pronounced at Boston, on the Fourth Day of July, 1811, before the Supreme Executive and in the Presence of the Bunker-Hill Association...
Synonyms:

blackball, cut someone dead, give someone the cold shoulder, send to Coventry, leper, brush off, discount, disregard, dissemble, despise

Antonyms:

attend, clock, consider, give heed, heed, let in on, mark, mind, notice, pass

ostracize meaning in Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and Malay

ostracize in Malayalam

ഭ്രഷ്ടാക്കുക, അകറ്റിനിർത്തുക, ബഹിഷ്കരിക്കുക

ostracize in Kannada

ಹೊರಹಾಕು, ಗಡಿಪಾರು ಮಾಡು, ದೇಶಭ್ರಷ್ಠ ಮಾಡು, ಬಹಿಷ್ಕರಿಸು

ostracize in Malay

to exclude a person from a community or from society by not communicating with them or by refusing to acknowledge their presence: pulau

Examples of ostracize in a sentence

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.1860 January, “Art IX.—Ancient and Modern Art and Literature.”, in J[ames] D[unwoody] B[rownson] De Bow, editor, De Bow’s Review and...
[T]raditions such as the bouquet toss and the "singles" table at the wedding reception often marginalize and ostracize lesbians and gays in attendance.2003, Cele C. Otnes, Elizabeth Hafkin Pleck, “Romance, Magic, Memory, and Perfection”, in Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish...
Children ostracize other children in the playground, choosing carefully who they wish to play with.2007, Kipling D. Williams, Jonathan Gerber, “Ostracism: The Making of the Ignored and Excluded Mind”, in Petra Hauf, Friedrich Försterling...

All 13 example sentences with ostracize

Synonyms of ostracize

15 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

8 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of ostracize

Forms of ostracize

third-person singular present	ostracizes
present participle	ostracizing
past participle	ostracized
past	ostracized
alternative form	ostracise

Origin of ostracize

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 formed from ostracize

Questions about ostracize

What does ostracize mean?: Ostracize means to ban a person from a city for five or ten years through the procedure of ostracism.
What is ostracize in Bengali?: Ostracize in Bengali is সমাজচ্যুত করা, একঘরে করা. See Ostracize meaning in Bengali.
How do you use ostracize in a sentence?: 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.
What part of speech is ostracize?: Ostracize is a verb.
How do you pronounce ostracize?: Ostracize is pronounced /ˈɒstɹəsaɪz/ (UK).
What is the past tense of ostracize?: The past tense of ostracize is ostracized.

Words near ostracize in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: ostracize (page history and authors); ostracize (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ostracize (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ostracize (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-ostracize.wav.

Cite this entry: “ostracize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ostracize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.