Adjacent Words

Banish definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BAN'ISH, v.t.
1. To condemn to exile, or compel to leave one's country, by authority of the prince or government, either for life or for a limited time. It is common for Russians to be banished to Siberia.
2. To drive away; to compel to depart; as, to banish sorrow.
3. To quit one's country voluntarily, and with a view to reside abroad; as, he banished himself.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: expel from a community or group [syn: banish, ban, ostracize, ostracise, shun, cast out, blackball]
2: ban from a place of residence, as for punishment [syn: banish, ban]
3: expel, as if by official decree; "he was banished from his own country" [syn: banish, relegate, bar]
4: drive away; "banish bad thoughts"; "banish gloom"

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French baniss-, stem of banir, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German bannan to command — more at ban Date: 14th century 1. to require by authority to leave a country 2. to drive out or remove from a home or place of usual resort or continuance 3. to clear away ; dispel <his discovery banishes anxiety — Stringfellow Barr> • banisher noun • banishment noun Synonyms: banish, exile, deport, transport mean to remove by authority from a state or country. banish implies compulsory removal from a country not necessarily one's own <banished for seditious activities>. exile may imply compulsory removal or an enforced or voluntary absence from one's own country <a writer who exiled himself for political reasons>. deport implies sending out of the country an alien who has illegally entered or whose presence is judged inimical to the public welfare <illegal aliens will be deported>. transport implies sending a convicted criminal to an overseas penal colony <a convict who was transported to Australia>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 formally expel (a person), esp. from a country. 2 dismiss from one's presence or mind. Derivatives: banishment n. Etymology: ME f. OE banir ult. f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Banish Ban"ish, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Banished(?); p. pr. & vb. n. Banishing.] [OF. banir, F. bannir, LL. bannire, fr. OHG. bannan to summon, fr. ban ban. See Ban an edict, and Finish, v. t.] 1. To condemn to exile, or compel to leave one's country, by authority of the ruling power. ``We banish you our territories.'' --Shak. 2. To drive out, as from a home or familiar place; -- used with from and out of. How the ancient Celtic tongue came to be banished from the Low Countries in Scotland. --Blair. 3. To drive away; to compel to depart; to dispel. ``Banish all offense.'' --Shak. Syn: To Banish, Exile, Expel. Usage: The idea of a coercive removal from a place is common to these terms. A man is banished when he is forced by the government of a country (be he a foreigner or a native) to leave its borders. A man is exiled when he is driven into banishment from his native country and home. Thus to exile is to banish, but to banish is not always to exile. To expel is to eject or banish, summarily or authoritatively, and usually under circumstances of disgrace; as, to expel from a college; expelled from decent society.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(banishes, banishing, banished) 1. If someone or something is banished from a place or area of activity, they are sent away from it and prevented from entering it. I was banished to the small bedroom upstairs... They tried to banish him from politics. = expel VERB: be V-ed from/to n, V n from/to n 2. If you banish something unpleasant, you get rid of it. ...a public investment programme intended to banish the recession. VERB: V n 3. If you banish the thought of something, you stop thinking about it. He has now banished all thoughts of retirement... The past few days had been banished from his mind. VERB: V n, be V-ed from/to n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Exile, expatriate, ostracize, expel from the country. 2. Exclude, expel, dismiss, dispel, shut out, drive away, put out of mind.

Moby Thesaurus

ban, blackball, blacklist, boycott, bump, can, cashier, cast out, cut, debar, deport, discharge, disfellowship, dismiss, displace, drive away, drive out, eject, evict, exclude, excommunicate, exile, expatriate, expel, extradite, fire, fugitate, lag, ostracize, oust, outlaw, proscribe, put out, reject, relegate, run out, rusticate, sack, send away, send down, send to Coventry, shut out, snub, spurn, thrust out, transport, turn out