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# ostracism

noun (ostracism, uncountable)

«ostracism» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Leaving someone out on purpose, so they are not included by a group. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ostracism/#m1)
2. (history) In ancient Athens, a vote to send a powerful citizen away from the city for ten years. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ostracism/#m2)

### In the lessons

In lessons about friendship and bullying, ostracism means deliberately excluding someone, which can hurt as much as words. In history lessons on ancient Greece, Athenians wrote a name on a broken piece of pottery (an ostrakon) to vote someone out.

### Examples

- Leaving someone out on purpose is a form of bullying called ostracism. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ostracism/#x1)
- The new girl suffered ostracism because she was different. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ostracism/#x2)
- In Athens, ostracism sent a man away for ten years. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ostracism/#x3)
- Voters scratched names on pieces of pottery for an ostracism. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ostracism/#x4)
- Ostracism can make people feel lonely and unwanted. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ostracism/#x5)
- Our class talked about how to stop ostracism in the playground. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ostracism/#x6)

### Note

Uncountable. Verb: ostracise (UK) / ostracize (US). Pronounced «OS-tra-sizm». It comes from the Greek «ostrakon», a broken pot. Not related to «ostrich».

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «ostracism» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ostracism/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«ostracism» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/ostracism.html) on Mova free.