Search Result for "excommunicate": 
Wordnet 3.0

VERB (2)

1. exclude from a church or a religious community;
- Example: "The gay priest was excommunicated when he married his partner"
[syn: excommunicate, unchurch, curse]

2. oust or exclude from a group or membership by decree;


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Excommunicate \Ex"com*mu"ni*cate\, a. [L. excommunicatus, p. p. of communicare to excommunicate; ex out + communicare. See Communicate.] Excommunicated; interdicted from the rites of the church. -- n. One excommunicated. [1913 Webster] Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Excommunicate \Ex`com*mu"ni*cate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Excommunicated; p. pr. & vb. n. Excommunicating.] 1. To put out of communion; especially, to cut off, or shut out, from communion with the church, by an ecclesiastical sentence. [1913 Webster] 2. 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. --Miltin. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

excommunicate v 1: exclude from a church or a religious community; "The gay priest was excommunicated when he married his partner" [syn: excommunicate, unchurch, curse] [ant: communicate] 2: oust or exclude from a group or membership by decree