ostracize
/'ɔstrəsaiz/ Cách viết khác : (ostracise) /'ɔstrəsaiz/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb:
- To exclude someone from a society or group: To deliberately avoid including someone in social activities, conversations, or group membership.
- To banish or expel: To formally or informally force someone to leave a community or group, often as a form of punishment or social rejection.
Usage
- The verb "ostracize" is used to describe a social action where a person is deliberately ignored or excluded.
- It is typically used in passive constructions (e.g., "to be ostracized") or with a direct object (e.g., "to ostracize someone").
- It often describes a collective action by a group against an individual.
Examples
- Verb:
- After the scandal, the entire community chose to ostracize the former mayor.
- Children can be cruel and sometimes ostracize a classmate for being different.
- She felt ostracized by her teammates after missing the decisive goal.
Advanced Usage
- "to ostracize oneself": To behave in a way that causes others to exclude you.
- By constantly breaking the rules, he effectively ostracized himself from the club.
- Social/Political Ostracism: Used in formal contexts to describe exclusion from political life or social circles as a historical or systemic practice.
- The ancient Athenian practice was to ostracize a citizen by popular vote for ten years.
Variants and Related Words
- Ostracism (noun): The state of being ostracized; the practice of ostracizing.
- The ostracism he experienced at work led to his resignation.
- Ostracized (adjective): Describing someone who has been excluded.
- The ostracized member sat alone at lunch.
Synonyms
- Exclude: To deliberately leave someone out.
- Shun: To persistently avoid, ignore, or reject someone.
- Blackball: To reject someone from a club or group by voting against them.
- Banish: To send someone away, especially from a country or community, as an official punishment.
Antonyms
- Welcome: To greet someone warmly into a group.
- Include: To make someone part of a group or activity.
- Embrace: To accept and support someone willingly and enthusiastically.
Related Idioms and Phrases
- To send someone to Coventry: (British English idiom) Meaning to ostracize someone by refusing to speak to them.
- After he reported the safety violations, his coworkers sent him to Coventry.
- To give someone the cold shoulder: To intentionally ignore someone or treat them in an unfriendly way.
- Ever since their argument, she has given him the cold shoulder.
Verb
- avoid speaking to or dealing with
- Ever since I spoke up, my colleagues ostracize me
- expel from a community or group