OSTRACISM • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Ostracism

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/ˈɔstrəsˌɪzəm/ Listen

noun

ostracism n.

(Gr. Antiq.) Banishment by popular vote, a means adopted at Athens to rid the city of a person whose talent and influence gave umbrage.

Banishment; exclusion; as, social ostracism. "Public envy is as an ostracism, that eclipseth men when they grow too great." "Sentenced to a perpetual ostracism from the... confidence, and honors, and emoluments of his country."

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Etymology of 'Ostracism'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ostracism" Quotes from Famous Books

... with her into quietness, and let all else go as it would. But Mrs. Wade's warning had impressed him deeply. It went with his secret inclination; for, at this stage of the combat, to lose all his aims would be a bitter disappointment. Rethought of the lifelong ostracism, and feared ...

— Denzil Quarrier • George Gissing

... Government is afraid of giving a chance to natives who may be suspected of being hostile to the British rule. In reality, the Government has little or nothing to do with it. This state of things must be attributed entirely to the social ostracism, to the contempt felt by a "superior" for an "inferior" race, a contempt deeply rooted in some members of the Anglo-Indian society and displayed at the least provocation. This question of racial "superiority" and "inferiority" ...

— From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan • Helena Pretrovna Blavatsky

... whirlwind and has trouble to keep her skirts from blowing up and entangling her waist, denotes that she will carry on a secret flirtation and will be horrified to find that scandal has gotten possession of her name and she will run a close risk of disgrace and ostracism. ...

— 10,000 Dreams Interpreted • Gustavus Hindman Miller

... twenty, sometimes as many as one hundred and fifty of them, receiving presents from the bride's parents and immediately thereafter bidding good-by to her, going home never to see their "wife" again. The parents have now done their duty; they have escaped religious and social ostracism at the expense, it is true, of their daughters, who remain at home to make themselves useful. These poor girls can never marry again, and whether or not they become moral outcasts, their life is ruined; but that, to a Hindoo, is ...

— Primitive Love and Love-Stories • Henry Theophilus Finck

... torment the thought came to him that he should go through the ceremony after all, that he should do as the people expected, that he should accept the Governorship, and then defy the social ostracism of the island by making Kate his wife. "It's not yet too ...

— The Manxman - A Novel - 1895 • Hall Caine

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