Definition

1. Proper noun:

   • An industrial city in central England: A city historically known for its manufacturing, severely damaged by air raids during World War II, and famously associated with the legend of Lady Godiva from the 11th century.

2. Noun:

   • The state of being banished or ostracized; exclusion from society by general consent: A state of complete social exclusion and shunning, where a person is ignored and avoided by everyone in a group.

Examples of Usage

• Proper noun:

  • The city of Coventry was heavily bombed during the Blitz.
  • Lady Godiva's legendary ride through Coventry is a famous story from English history.

• Noun:

  • After he broke the team's trust, he was sent to Coventry by his teammates.
  • The political dissident faced a form of Coventry, with former friends refusing to speak to him.

Advanced Usage

• "to send someone to Coventry": This is the primary idiomatic verb phrase associated with the noun form. It means to deliberately and collectively ostracize someone, refusing to speak to or acknowledge them.
  • The workers sent the strike-breaker to Coventry for weeks.

Variants and Related Words

• Ostracism (n): The general practice of excluding someone from a society or group. (This is a close synonym for the noun form of "Coventry").
• Shunning (n): The act of deliberately avoiding association with someone.

Synonyms

• Banishment: The act of sending someone away from a place as an official punishment.
• Excommunication: Formal exclusion from a community or church, especially the Roman Catholic Church.
• Exclusion: The process of not allowing someone to be part of a group or activity.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs/Idioms)

• Send to Coventry: To ostracize someone; to refuse to associate with or speak to someone.
  • The entire class sent the bully to Coventry after his cruel actions were exposed.

Related Idioms

• Give someone the silent treatment: To deliberately stop speaking to someone as a punishment or expression of displeasure. (This is a less formal, more personal equivalent to "send to Coventry").

Noun

1. an industrial city in central England; devastated by air raids during World War II; remembered as the home of Lady Godiva in the 11th century
2. the state of being banished or ostracized (excluded from society by general consent)
   • the association should get rid of its elderly members--not by euthanasia, of course, but by Coventry