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excommunicate

[eks-kuh-myoo-ni-kayt, eks-kuh-myoo-ni-kit, -kayt] / ˌɛks kəˈmju nɪˌkeɪt, ˌɛks kəˈmju nɪ kɪt, -ˌkeɪt /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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He did this by threatening to excommunicate from the Church those bishops who refused to comply with his wishes.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2025

After the service, journalists were asked to leave while members voted on a move of “church discipline” to excommunicate Long under the church’s bylaws.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2021

“They can’t excommunicate me because I am not going anywhere,” she says.

From New York Times ● May 22, 2020

That the Prince of Wales was heavily involved in the decision to excommunicate his brother is evidence of a monarchy in flux.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 23, 2019

Such a pair were once sent with bulls to excommunicate Barnabas Visconti, but Barnabas only made them eat their bulls—parchment, ribbons, leaden seals and all.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

It now excommunicates anyone who practises polygamy but a number of fundamentalist Mormon offshoots continue to do so.

From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2020

Complying with the church commandments isn’t such a problem for many Amish inmates, because the church usually excommunicates members who commit crimes of violence or depravity before they enter prison.

From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2012

The mainstream Mormon church, which has no affiliation with the FLDS, abandoned polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates members engaged in the practice.

From Reuters ● Jun. 22, 2012

Good Catholic wives glanced at the crucifix on the wall, tried not to think of excommunicates.

From Time Magazine Archive

They defy the world—the world in return excommunicates them—the female outlaws become desperate, and make it the business and pride of their lives to disturb the peace of their sober neighbours.

From Tales and Novels — Volume 03 by Maria Edgeworth

“I like to say I was excommunicated from the church of the medical establishment,” he said in the Substack video.

From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2025

Two excommunicated Spanish nuns who have joined a sect were held for allegedly selling cultural assets belonging to the Catholic Church from a convent they refuse to leave, a court said on Friday.

From Barron's ● Nov. 28, 2025

He and his wife Anne were excommunicated by his local church in Cape Town, South Africa, the year before he died.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2024

In 2009, for example, Pope Benedict diplomatically reconnected with a far-right group that had, in a great scandal in the ’80s, excommunicated itself by consecrating bishops outside the church’s approval.

From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2023

The Jews excommunicated him because he advocated a pantheistic doctrine, something like the “allness of God,” or “God in everything.”

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

“I don’t believe in excommunicating anything, but I’m, to a fault, aggressively not on-screen. I carry a phone, but I’m legendary for being the hardest person to get a hold of.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026

The Vatican has been considering developing a doctrine about excommunicating Catholic mobsters.

From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2021

Another commenter added, “Why are they excommunicating you over a 1-year-olds attendance? That baby will never remember your wedding day and likely would never care that he wasn’t invited.”

From Fox News ● May 15, 2019

“Buckley, of course, succeeded in excommunicating the John Birch Society from the conservative movement,” said Rush Limbaugh the next day.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2015

An excommunicating bull, precipitated by Papal Machiavelism, driving on the brutalised obedience of its slaves, separated the friends.

From Calamities and Quarrels of Authors by Isaac Disraeli




Vocabulary lists containing excommunicate


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