excommunication Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the state of being excommunicated
    censure; exclusion.
  2. noun the act of banishing a member of a church from the communion of believers and the privileges of the church; cutting a person off from a religious society
    excision.

WordNet

Ex`com*mu`ni*ca"tion noun
Etymology
L. excommunicatio: cf. F. excommunication.
Definitions
  1. The act of communicating or ejecting; esp., an ecclesiastical censure whereby the person against whom it is pronounced is, for the time, cast out of the communication of the church; exclusion from fellowship in things spiritual. ✍ excommunication is of two kinds, the lesser and the greater; the lesser excommunication is a separation or suspension from partaking of the Eucharist; the greater is an absolute execution of the offender from the church and all its rights and advantages, even from social intercourse with the faithful.

Webster 1913