excommunication
/'ekskə,mju:ni'keiʃn/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- The formal act of expelling someone from a religious community, specifically from the sacraments and fellowship of a church: "Excommunication" refers to the official ecclesiastical censure that excludes a person from participating in the communion of the church and its rites.
- The state of being so expelled: "Excommunication" also describes the condition or status of a person who has been cut off from a religious society.
Usage and Examples
- Noun:
- The bishop pronounced the excommunication of the heretic. (The bishop formally declared the heretic to be expelled from the church.)
- He lived in excommunication for many years before seeking reconciliation. (He lived in a state of being excluded from the church for many years.)
Advanced Usage
- "Major excommunication": A severe form that excludes a person from all sacraments and church community life.
- The crime of apostasy traditionally warranted major excommunication.
- "Minor excommunication": A lesser form, often involving exclusion from receiving the Eucharist but not from the community.
- The penitent was under minor excommunication until completing the prescribed acts of contrition.
Variants and Related Words
- Excommunicate (verb): To officially exclude someone from the sacraments and fellowship of a church.
- The council voted to excommunicate the schismatic leader.
- Excommunicant (noun): A person who has been excommunicated.
- The excommunicant was barred from entering the cathedral.
Synonyms
- Expulsion: The act of forcing someone to leave a place or organization.
- Ostracism: Exclusion from a society or group.
- Anathematization: The formal act of pronouncing a curse or excommunication.
Related Phrases and Idioms
- "To be under the ban of excommunication": To be officially subjected to this censure.
- Any who followed the condemned doctrine were under the ban of excommunication.
- "Lift/remove the excommunication": To formally revoke the censure.
- The Pope agreed to lift the excommunication after a public recantation.
Noun
- 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 society
- the state of being excommunicated