verbWord forms: -ships, -shipping, -shippedWord forms: US-ships, -shiping or -shiped(transitive)
to excommunicate
excommunicate in British English
Roman Catholic Church
verb (ˌɛkskəˈmjuːnɪˌkeɪt)
1. (transitive)
to sentence (a member of the Church) to exclusion from the communion of believers and from the privileges and public prayers of the Church
adjective (ˌɛkskəˈmjuːnɪkɪt, -ˌkeɪt)
2.
having incurred such a sentence
noun (ˌɛkskəˈmjuːnɪkɪt, -ˌkeɪt)
3.
an excommunicated person
disfellowship in American English
(dɪsˈfelouˌʃɪp) (verb-shiped, -shiping or esp Brit -shipped, -shipping)
noun
1. (in some Protestant religions)
the status of a member who, because of some serious infraction of church policy, has been denied the church's sacraments and any post of responsibility and is officially shunned by other members
transitive verb
2.
to place in the status of disfellowship
Word origin
[1600–10; dis-1 + fellowship]This word is first recorded in the period 1600–10. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: criticism, operate, quarantine, syndicate, umbrella