# cast into outer darkness

idiom · CEFR C1

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/cast-into-outer-darkness
Updated: 2026-07-29

## Meaning

To be completely excluded, banished, or shut out from a group or from favour.

## Examples

- After the argument, he was cast into outer darkness by the whole family.
- One disloyal comment and she was cast into outer darkness, dropped from every meeting that had once relied on her advice.
- The moment his forecast proved wrong, the analyst who had been the firm's golden boy was cast into outer darkness, his calls unreturned and his name quietly removed from the projects he had built.

## Origin

Outer darkness is another of Matthew's images of exclusion, at 8:12 and 22:13, where those found unworthy are cast into the outer darkness — the black region beyond the lit banqueting hall, standing for total separation from the kingdom. The contrast is architectural: inside is warmth, light, and feasting; outside is cold and dark, and to be thrown there is to be shut out of everything that matters. In English to be cast into outer darkness has lost most of its theological terror and now describes social or professional banishment — being frozen out, dropped from the invitation list, exiled from the group whose favour once counted, usually with a wry acknowledgement that the sentence is more wounded pride than damnation.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.