- to expel from or relegate to a country or place by authoritative decree; condemn to exile: He was banished to Devil's Island.
- to compel to depart; send, drive, or put away: to banish sorrow.
Origin of banish
SynonymsSee more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Examples from the Web for banishment
While quarantined, she was seemingly powerless to challenge her banishment to a tent in Newark.Are Mandatory Ebola Quarantines Legal?
October 28, 2014
Second offenses would be punished by banishment…that could be appealed after one year.Was Firing Ray Rice The Right Move?
September 10, 2014
Hard to say if the banishment will make any impact on the outcome on the medal stand.The Olympics Are Already Two Days Old. This Is Your Test.
February 9, 2014
“I truly thought my banishment would only last for a month or so,” she writes.‘Banished’ Lauren Drain on Growing Up in the Westboro Baptist Church
March 5, 2013
Is the GOP becoming a smaller tent where dissent is grounds for banishment?The GOP's Liability on the Fringe
May 8, 2011
Mademoiselle held the royal warrant of her father's banishment in her hand.Bardelys the Magnificent
You must journey on to Pesaro with me despite this banishment of which you have told me.The Shame of Motley
And they are compelled to walk to and from the place of banishment.The Destroyer
Burton Egbert Stevenson
Her father was in banishment, the commutation of a sentence of death.Luttrell Of Arran
Charles James Lever
Where and to what does Hemsworth's benevolence point, dishonour or banishment?The O'Donoghue
Charles James Lever
- to expel from a place, esp by an official decree as a punishment
- to drive awayto banish gloom
Word Origin and History for banishment
late 14c., banischen, from banniss-, extended stem of Old French banir "announce, proclaim; levy; forbid; banish, proclaim an outlaw," from a Germanic source (perhaps Frankish *bannjan "to order or prohibit under penalty"), or from Vulgar Latin cognate *bannire (see bandit). Related: Banished; banishing.