Banish

//ˈbænɪʃ// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To send (someone) away and forbid them from returning. transitive

    "He was banished from the kingdom for his crimes."

  2. 2
    drive away wordnet
  3. 3
    To expel, especially from the mind. transitive

    "to banish fear; to banish a qualm"

  4. 4
    expel, as if by official decree wordnet
  5. 5
    expel from a community or group wordnet
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    ban from a place of residence, as for punishment wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
exileabandbanbanbarblackball

Example

More examples

"His story will banish your fears."

Etymology

From Middle English banishen, from Old French baniss-, extended stem of banir (“to proclaim, ban, banish”), of Germanic origin and Old English bannan, from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“curse, forbid”). Compare French bannir. Doublet of ban.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.