excommunication
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (2)
- the state of being excommunicatedSynonyms: exclusioncensureType of rejection
- the act of banishing a member of a church from the communion of believers and the privileges of the church; cutting a person off from a religious societySynonyms: excisionType of banishment, proscription
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: L. excommunicatio: cf. F. excommunication.
The act of communicating or ejecting; esp., an ecclesiastical censure whereby the person against whom it is pronounced is, for the time, cast out of the communication of the church; exclusion from fellowship in things spiritual.
☞ excommunication is of two kinds, the lesser and the greater; the lesser excommunication is a separation or suspension from partaking of the Eucharist; the greater is an absolute execution of the offender from the church and all its rights and advantages, even from social intercourse with the faithful.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54
The Devil's Dictionary
This "excommunication" is a word In speech ecclesiastical oft heard, And means the damning, with bell, book and candle, Some sinner whose opinions are a scandal -- A rite permitting Satan to enslave him Forever, and forbidding Christ to save him. Gat Huckle