exile

1 of 2

noun

1
a
: the state or a period of forced absence from one's country or home
b
: the state or a period of voluntary absence from one's country or home
2
: a person who is in exile
exilic adjective

exile

2 of 2

verb

exiled; exiling

transitive verb

: to banish or expel from one's own country or home
Choose the Right Synonym for exile

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

Examples of exile in a Sentence

Noun They hoped that his exile would be temporary. Many chose to live as exiles rather than face persecution. Verb with their conquest of the Moors complete, Ferdinand and Isabella next exiled the Jews from Spain
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Still, Ivan Zhdanov, who, like many of Mr. Navalny’s closest associates, is in exile outside Russia, encouraged people to come to the church, saying that the police had not been arresting mourners, as many had feared. Valerie Hopkins, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2024 What’s confounding is that the works express the anxiety and longing of exile not through poetic distillation but through an almost comically unstoppable geyser of cascading symbols, modes, allusions and whims. Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2024 Dozens of Buddhist monks have committed self-immolation, to protest the suppression of Buddhist leaders in Vietnam in the middle of the last century and, more recently, to draw attention to Chinese rule over Tibet, and the exile of the Dalai Lama. Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2024 In a back booth at James Restaurant in San Fernando, Alarcon was philosophical about his exile. Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2024 Leading government critics are opponents are either in exile, jail or worse. Charles Maynes, NPR, 24 Feb. 2024 By the end of the story, his town’s entire Jewish population will be forced into exile. Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Feb. 2024 Return from exile The culmination of these efforts is a system Navalny developed in 2018 called Smart Voting. Regina Smyth, The Conversation, 16 Feb. 2024 State media reported earlier this week Navalny’s brother, believed to be hiding in exile, is facing new charges back in Russia. James Farrell, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024
Verb
With all his real adversaries in prison, exiled or dead, his landslide victory is all but certain. Alexander Smith, NBC News, 29 Feb. 2024 Dwight ‘The General’ Manfredi (Stallone), just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Feb. 2024 During a game of King’s Cup—a drinking game that on this February night had created a rule that exiled me to the porch—without hesitation, Dickie followed me outside. Hazlitt, 28 Feb. 2024 Since then there has been a crackdown on dissent, with many opposition figures thrown into jail or exiled. Sophie Tanno, CNN, 25 Feb. 2024 Danvers was exiled to Ennis, basically because no one liked her. Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 19 Feb. 2024 With Navalny’s wife and team exiled from Russia, the duty of collecting his body and planning a funeral has fallen to his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya. Darya Tarasova, CNN, 24 Feb. 2024 For Twitter exiles weary of how Elon Musk has decimated that platform, Bluesky was their answer. Jason Parham, WIRED, 19 Feb. 2024 Navalny’s unstoppable social media presence became especially important after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine when the Kremlin took steps to silence or exile all opposition forces. Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 16 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'exile.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English exil, from Anglo-French essil, exil, from Latin exilium, from exul, exsul an exile

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of exile was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near exile

Cite this Entry

“Exile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exile. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

exile

1 of 2 noun
1
a
: an act or instance of being forced to leave one's country or home
also : voluntary absence from one's country or home
b
: the state of one so absent
2
: a person who is in exile

exile

2 of 2 verb
exiled; exiling
: to force to leave one's own country or home

More from Merriam-Webster on exile

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