Exile

//ɪɡˈzaɪl// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of being banished from one's home or country. uncountable

    "He lived in exile."

  2. 2
    the act of expelling a person from their native land wordnet
  3. 3
    Someone who is banished from his home or country. countable

    "She lived as an exile, and did her best to make the most out of such life."

  4. 4
    a person who is expelled from home or country by authority wordnet
  5. 5
    a person who is voluntarily absent from home or country wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To send (someone or something) into exile. transitive

    "Calling home our exiled friends abroad."

  2. 2
    expel from a country wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
expatriatebanishbanishmentexpatriateexpatriateabstract

Example

More examples

"The exile yearned for his home."

Etymology

From Middle English exil, borrowed from Old French essil, exil, from Latin exsilium, exilium (“state of exile”), derived from exsul, exul (“exiled person”).

Related phrases

exile of consciencegovernment-in-exileinternal exileself-exiletax exile

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