banish
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to officially order someone to leave a country or place as a punishment.
to expel a person from a country or community by official decree, typically as a formal punishment.
Simple“The king decided to banish the knight from the kingdom forever.”
In context“Historical records indicate that the rebel leaders were banished to a remote island, forbidden from ever returning to the capital.”
UsageTakes a direct object; often used with the preposition 'from'.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to get rid of a thought, fear, or feeling completely.
to dismiss or expel a thought, feeling, or idea from the mind.
Simple“She tried to banish all negative thoughts before the big interview.”
In context“The athlete worked with a psychologist to banish the lingering fear of re-injury that had hampered his performance all season.”
UsageCommonly used with abstract nouns like 'fear', 'doubt', or 'thought'.
From Middle English banishen, from Old French baniss-, extended stem of banir (“to proclaim, ban, banish”), of Germanic origin and Old English bannan, from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“curse, forbid”). Compare French bannir. Doublet of ban.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.