A.Word.A.Day--excommunicate

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The Magic of Words

Sep 29, 2010

This week's theme
Words related to censorship

This week's words
fatwa
custos morum
excommunicate

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

excommunicate

PRONUNCIATION:

(verb: eks-kuh-MYOO-ni-kayt, noun and adj: eks-kuh-MYOO-ni-kit, -kayt)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To formally exclude someone from a group or community, especially from a religious community.
noun: A person who has been excluded in this manner.
adjective: Having been excluded.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin excommunicare (to put out of the community), from ex- (out of) + communis (common). Ultimately from the Indo-European root mei- (to change or move) that has also given us commute, mutual, migrate, common, mistake, and immune.

NOTES:

There's censorship of books, and there is censorship of humans. Excommunication is a fancy word to describe the latter.

USAGE:

"Aquinas had responded that we ought to die excommunicated rather than violate our conscience."
Fr Joe Borg; Respect and responsibility; The Times (Valletta, Malta); Sep 5, 2010.

Explore "excommunicate" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The lust for comfort murders the passions of the soul. -Khalil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist (1883-1931)

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