Word of the Day

Thursday December 10, 2009

ostracize [OS-truh-syz]

transitive verb

To expel or banish from a community or group; to cast out from political, social or private favor.
To exile by ostracism; to banish by a popular vote, as at Athens.

While government can and should debate and criticize opposition voices, the current White House goes beyond that. It wants to delegitimize any significant dissent. The objective is no secret. White House aides openly told Politico that they're engaged in a deliberate campaign to marginalize and ostracize recalcitrants, from Fox to health insurers to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Charles Krauthammer,"White House's Nixonian war on Fox", The Herald, Oct 23, 2009
I think that Rideau High's bad rep is a bad rap. Other schools have the same sorts of students with similar problems. Let's help our young people, not ostracize them.

Leilla Beavon, "Don't ostracize them", The Ottawa Citizen, Oct 15, 2009
"It was reasonable. It was the only thing possible. And just for that they chose to turn the cold shoulder on her,--to ostracize her practically. What had she done to them? What right had they to treat her like that?" Fierce resentment sounded in Tommy's voice.

Ethel M. Dell (1881 - 1939) An English writer of popular romance novels. The Lamp in the Desert (1919)

Origin of the Word

Ostracize, approximately 1640s, derives from Greek ostrakizein, banishment in ancient Athens, by which the citizens gathered and wrote the names of men they deemed dangerous to the state on potsherds or tiles, and a man whose name turned up often enough was sent away , normally for a period of ten years.