banishment Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the state of being banished or ostracized (excluded from society by general consent)
    Coventry; ostracism.
    • the association should get rid of its elderly members--not by euthanasia, of course, but by Coventry
  2. noun rejection by means of an act of banishing or proscribing someone
    proscription.

WordNet

Ban"ish*ment noun
Etymology
Cf. F. bannissement.
Definitions
  1. The act of banishing, or the state of being banished.
    He secured himself by the banishment of his enemies. Johnson.
    Round the wide world in banishment we roam. Dryden.
    Syn. -- Expatriation; ostracism; expulsion; proscription; exile; outlawry.

Webster 1913