Exile Can Be Imposed or Chosen
Exile is being barred from your homeland. The word covers both banishment by others and departure by choice.
Exile is enforced or prolonged absence from one's own country, and also the person living that way. English allows both directions: exile can be imposed by a state, as banishment, or entered voluntarily, which is why the phrase *self-imposed exile* is not a contradiction. Latin *exilium* covered the same range. In ancient Athens, *ostracism* was a formal ten-year exile decided by citizens writing names on pottery fragments called *ostraka*.
- Enforced absence from home. *Twenty years in exile.*
- A person in exile. *A political exile.*
- To banish. *He was exiled.*
- Self-imposed exile — chosen. *A self-imposed exile.*
- Ostracism — the Athenian version. *Athenian ostracism.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | exile | Long exile. |
| Plural | exiles | Political exiles. |
| Verb | exile | Exile him. |
| Past | exiled | Exiled in 1815. |
| Latin | exilium | Banishment. |
- He spent his last years in exile.State.
- The exiles founded a newspaper abroad.People.
- Ostraka were pottery fragments used for voting.History.
Words for being sent away
- Exile — barred from your country, imposed or chosen
- Banishment — always imposed, usually by law
- Ostracism — the Athenian ten-year exile by public vote
- Deportation — removal to another country by authority
- Diaspora — a scattered population living outside its homeland
Latin *exilium*, banishment, from *exul*, a banished person, possibly from *ex-* plus a root meaning to wander.
Can exile be voluntary?
Yes. Self-imposed exile is a standard phrase for someone who leaves and stays away by choice.
What was ostracism?
An Athenian procedure in which citizens voted to exile a person for ten years by writing their name on a pottery fragment.