ostracize
to exclude someone from a group or society
Word origin: From Greek ostrakon, a potsherd used as a ballot for banishment.
Ostracize in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing ostracize in a sentence.
Colleagues began to ostracize the whistleblower after he reported the fraud.
After he broke the strike, his former colleagues moved to ostracize him from every union gathering.
Using “ostracize” well
To ostracize is to deliberately exclude or shun someone from a group, typically as collective punishment. It implies a social freezing-out rather than a single rejection.
More GRE words starting with O
a stupid, clumsy, or boorish person
stubbornly refusing to change one's mind or course of action
a gesture or attitude of deep respect or submission
showing deferential respect or submissive obedience
a tapering stone pillar with a pyramidal top, typically erected as a monument
grossly overweight to a degree that poses a health risk
to make something deliberately unclear or confusing
the act of making something deliberately unclear or confusing
Questions about “ostracize”
Learn words the way the GRE tests them.
Vocabulary sticks when you meet it in real sentences. Practise these words inside text completion and sentence equivalence questions.