banish

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The memory of the Eurasian he could not banish, and was ever listening for the silvery voice, but in vain.

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. transitive verb To force to leave a country or place by official decree; exile.
  2. transitive verb To drive away; expel: We banished all our doubts and fears.
  3. Syntax Note
    Synonyms: banish, exile, expatriate, deport, transport, extradite
    These verbs mean to send away from a country or state. Banish applies to forced departure from a country by official decree: The spy was found guilty of treason and banished from the country.
    Exile specifies voluntary or involuntary departure from one's own country because of adverse circumstances: The royal family was exiled after the uprising.
    Expatriate pertains to departure that is sometimes forced but often voluntary and may imply change of citizenship: She was expatriated because of her political beliefs.
    Deport denotes the official act of expelling an alien: The foreigner was deported for entering the country illegally.
    Transport pertains to sending a criminal abroad, usually to a penal colony: Offenders were transported to Devil's Island.
    Extradite applies to the delivery of an accused or convicted person to the state or country having jurisdiction over him or her: The court will extradite the terrorists.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • She had some ghosts to banish, and she needed him to banish them. —  Balogh, Mary - The Notorious Rake
  • We here at LinuxInsider are here to bring it to light -- banish those below-zero blues and think freedom instead! —  LinuxInsider
  • Their despair He bade them banish, and in him confide For what the future needed; held them forth The promise of a race unlike the first Originating from a wonderous stock And now his lightenings were already shot And earth in flames, but that a fire so vast He fear'd might reach Olympus, and consume The heavenly axis. —  The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I ; II
  • Mina was indeed so much troubled that she went off her sleep--a most unusual experience for her; and the morning failed to banish, as it often benignly banishes, the misgivings of the night Once more Gladys made a pilgrimage to the old home where Walter dwelt alone, working early and late, the monotony of his toil only brightened by one constant hope. —  The Guinea Stamp A Tale of Modern Glasgow
  • His whole attitude suggested a wish to banish, as far as it lay within his power, the atmosphere of the previous afternoon Here is a letter to be considered first," he said, a bit gravely. —  The Primrose Ring
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

banish:   banishing ·  banished ·  banishes
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English banishen, from Old French banir, baniss-, of Germanic origin; see bhā-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English banishen, banysen, from Old French banir, bannir (baniss-), modern F. bannir = Old Spanish Portuguese bandir = Italian bandire, Middle Latin bannire, bandire, proclaim, ban, banish, from bannum, bandum, ban: see ban, n. and v.
 

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/ˈbænɪʃ/
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