Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Excommunicate \Ex"com*mu"ni*cate\, a. [L. excommunicatus, p. p.
of communicare to excommunicate; ex out + communicare. See
{Communicate}.]
Excommunicated; interdicted from the rites of the church. --
n. One excommunicated.
Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate. --Shak.
Excommunicate \Ex`com*mu"ni*cate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p.
{Excommunicated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Excommunicating}.]
1. To put out of communion; especially, to cut off, or shut
out, from communion with the church, by an ecclesiastical
sentence.
2. To lay under the ban of the church; to interdict.
Martin the Fifth . . . was the first that
excommunicated the reading of heretical books.
--Miltin.
Source : WordNet®
excommunicate
v 1: exclude from a church or a religious community; "The gay
priest was excommunicated when he married his partner"
[syn: {curse}] [ant: {communicate}]
2: oust or exclude from a group or membership by decree