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Webster 1913 Edition


ostracism

os′tra-cism

,
Noun.
[Gr.
ὀστρακισμός
, fr.
ὀστρακίζειν
to ostracize. See
Ostracize
.]
1.
(Gr. Antiq.)
Banishment by popular vote, – a means adopted at Athens to rid the city of a person whose talent and influence gave umbrage.
2.
Banishment; exclusion;
as, social
ostracism
.
Public envy is as an
ostracism
, that eclipseth men when they grow too great.
Bacon.
Sentenced to a perpetual
ostracism
from the . . . confidence, and honors, and emoluments of his country.
A. Hamilton.

Webster 1828 Edition


Ostracism

OSTRACISM

,
Noun.
[Gr. from a shell, or potter's ware.]
1.
In Grecian antiquity, banishment by the people of Athens, of a person whose merit and influence gave umbrage to them. It takes this name from the shell on which the name or the note of acquittal or condemnation was written. It is however most probable that this shell was a piece of baked earth, rendered by the Latins testa.
2.
Banishment; expulsion; separation.
Sentenced to a perpetual ostracism from the esteem and confidence, and honors and emoluments of his country.

Definition 2024


ostracism

ostracism

English

Noun

ostracism (countable and uncountable, plural ostracisms)

  1. (historical) In ancient Athens (and some other cities), the temporary banishment by popular vote of a citizen considered dangerous to the state. [from 16th c.]
  2. (figuratively) Banishment by some general consent. [from 17th c.]
    • 1602—3, Lady Arbella Stuart, Sara Jayne Steen, editor, The Letters of Lady Arbella Stuart, New York: Oxford University Press, published 1994, page 171:
      If I have deserved the land should spue me out, I will feed my selfe with the idle and windy conceite of an Ostracisme, and my unregarded poore selfe shall be all the richesse and commpany I crave to transport and if a Princes word [].
  3. Temporary exclusion from a community or society.

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