Adjacent Words

Expel definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EXPEL', v.t. [L. expello; ex and pello, to drive; from the L. participle.]
1. To drive or force out from any inclosed place; as, to expel wind from the stomach, or air from a bellows. [The word is applicable to any force, physical or moral.]
2. To drive out; to force to leave; as, to expel the inhabitants of a country; to expel wild beasts from a forest.
3. To eject; to throw out.
4. To banish; to exile.
5. To reject; to refuse. [Little used.]
And would you not poor fellowship expel?
6. To exclude; to keep out or off.
7. In college government, to command to leave; to dissolve the connection of a student; to interdict him from further connection.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: force to leave or move out; "He was expelled from his native country" [syn: expel, throw out, kick out]
2: remove from a position or office; "The chairman was ousted after he misappropriated funds" [syn: oust, throw out, drum out, boot out, kick out, expel]
3: cause to flee; "rout out the fighters from their caves" [syn: rout, rout out, expel]
4: eliminate (a substance); "combustion products are exhausted in the engine"; "the plant releases a gas" [syn: exhaust, discharge, expel, eject, release]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (expelled; expelling) Etymology: Middle English expellen, from Latin expellere, from ex- + pellere to drive — more at felt Date: 14th century 1. to force out ; eject <expelled the smoke from her lungs> 2. to force to leave (as a place or organization) by official action ; take away rights or privileges of membership <expelled from college> Synonyms: see eject • expellable adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. (expelled, expelling) (often foll. by from) 1 deprive (a person) of the membership of or involvement in (a school, society, etc.). 2 force out or eject (a thing from its container etc.). 3 order or force to leave a building etc. Derivatives: expellable adj. expellee n. expellent adj. expeller n. Etymology: ME f. L expellere expuls- (as EX-(1), pellere drive)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Expel Ex*pel", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Expelled, p. pr. & vb. n.. Expelling.] [L. expellere, expulsum; ex out + pellere to drive: cf.F. expeller. See Pulse a beat.] 1. To drive or force out from that within which anything is contained, inclosed, or situated; to eject; as to expel air from a bellows. Did not ye . . . expel me out of my father's house? --Judg. xi. 7. 2. To drive away from one's country; to banish. Forewasted all their land, and them expelled. --Spenser. . He shall expel them from before you . . . and ye shall possess their land. --Josh. xxiii. 5. 3. To cut off from further connection with an institution of learning, a society, and the like; as, to expel a student or member. 4. To keep out, off, or away; to exclude. ``To expel the winter's flaw.'' --Shak. 5. To discharge; to shoot. [Obs.] Then he another and another [shaft] did expel. --Spenser. . Syn: To banish; exile; eject; drive out. See Banish.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(expels, expelling, expelled) 1. If someone is expelled from a school or organization, they are officially told to leave because they have behaved badly. More than five-thousand secondary school students have been expelled for cheating. ...a boy expelled from school for making death threats to his teacher. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed, V-ed 2. If people are expelled from a place, they are made to leave it, often by force. An American academic was expelled from the country yesterday... They were told at first that they should simply expel the refugees. VERB: be V-ed, V n 3. To expel something means to force it out from a container or from your body. As the lungs exhale this waste, gas is expelled into the atmosphere. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Eject, dislodge, drive out, force away, thrust out or forth. 2. Eject, void, evacuate, discharge. 3. Remove (by penalty), exclude permanently, exscind. 4. Banish, exile, expatriate, ostracize, proscribe.

Moby Thesaurus

abrupt, abstract, alienate, assign, ban, banish, bar, belch, blackball, blow, blow off, blow out, boot, boot out, bounce, break, breathe, breathe hard, breathe in, breathe out, bump, bust, can, carry over, cashier, cast, cast forth, cast off, cast out, chuck, chuck out, clear, clear away, clear out, clear the decks, communicate, consign, cough, cut, cut adrift, cut off, cut out, debar, debouch, decant, deconsecrate, defenestrate, defrock, degrade, delete, deliver, demote, depart, deplume, deport, depose, deprive, dethrone, detrude, diffuse, disarticulate, disbar, discard, discharge, disconnect, discrown, disembogue, disemploy, disengage, disenthrone, disfellowship, disgorge, disjoin, disjoint, dislodge, dismiss, displace, displume, dispose of, dispossess, disseminate, dissociate, disunite, divide, divorce, drive out, drum out, ejaculate, eject, elide, eliminate, eradicate, eruct, erupt, estrange, evict, exclude, excommunicate, exhale, exhaust, exile, expatriate, expire, export, extradite, extravasate, extrude, fire, force out, fugitate, furlough, gasp, get quit of, get rid of, get shut of, give, give the ax, give the gate, give the hook, gulp, hack, hand forward, hand on, hand over, heave out, hiccup, huff, impart, import, inhale, inspire, irrupt, isolate, jet, jettison, junk, kick, kick downstairs, kick out, kick upstairs, lag, lay off, leave, let go, let out, liquidate, make over, make redundant, maroon, metastasize, metathesize, obtrude, ostracize, oust, outlaw, outpour, overthrow, pant, part, pass, pass on, pass over, pass the buck, pension, pension off, perfuse, pick out, pour, pour forth, pour out, proscribe, puff, pull away, pull back, pull out, purge, push out, put out, read out of, reject, relay, release, relegate, remove, remove from office, replace, respire, retire, root out, root up, rusticate, sack, segregate, send away, send down, send forth, send out, send to Coventry, separate, separate forcibly, sequester, set apart, set aside, show the door, shut off, sigh, sneeze, sniff, sniffle, snore, snort, snub, snuff, snuffle, spew, split, spout, spread, spurn, spurt, squirt, stand aloof, stand apart, stand aside, step aside, strike off, strike out, strip, strip of office, strip of rank, subtract, superannuate, surplus, suspend, switch, throw away, throw off, throw out, throw over, throw overboard, thrust out, toss out, transfer, transfer property, transfuse, translate, translocate, transmit, transplace, transplant, transport, transpose, turn off, turn out, turn over, unchurch, uncouple, unfrock, unsaddle, unseat, unthrone, unyoke, weed out, wheeze, withdraw