Ostracize

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈɒstɹəsaɪz/

Definitions

  1. To exclude or banish someone from a group or society as a form of social punishment or rejection
  2. To deliberately exclude or shun someone from a community | group | or society through collective disapproval or social rejection
  3. To cast out | banish | or isolate an individual from social participation through organized group refusal and condemnation

Etymology: Ostracize traces its path through Greek political history into English legal and social vocabulary. The word derives from the ancient Greek practice of "ostrakismos," a democratic procedure in Athens whereby citizens could vote to exile a prominent or troublesome figure for a period of ten years. The mechanism itself was named after "ostrakon," the Greek word for a broken piece of pottery or shell. Athenian citizens would scratch the name of the person they wished to banish onto these pottery shards and drop them into an urn; the individual whose name appeared most frequently would be exiled. This literal voting method — using broken pottery fragments — gave the practice its name. The word entered English in the 16th century, initially referring directly to this ancient Athenian custom. Early English uses appear in historical and classical texts discussing Greek democracy. By the 17th and 18th centuries, however, the meaning had broadened significantly beyond the literal historical practice. Writers began using ostracize metaphorically to describe the social exclusion or banishment of any person from a community or group, whether or not formal legal proceedings were involved. The semantic evolution from a specific political mechanism to a general term for social rejection reflects how English adopts foreign words: the original concrete context fades, and the underlying principle — removal from society through collective action — becomes the enduring sense. Today, to ostracize someone means to exclude them from a group or society through deliberate rejection, whether formally or informally. The word carries overtones of deliberate, collective action that distinguish it from mere isolation or avoidance; it implies a coordinated decision to cast someone out. The Greek root "ostrakon" itself likely derives from an Indo-European base related to bone or shell, though the specific pathway is uncertain. What remains vivid in the word's modern use is the democratic and communal aspect embedded in its origin: ostracism requires the participation of the many against the one.

Synonyms: exclude, shun

Antonyms: include, welcome