ex·ile  ( ĕg z īl ′, ĕk s īl ′)
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n.1. a. The condition or period of being forced to live away from one's native country or home, especially as a punishment. b. The condition or period of self-imposed absence from one's country or home: a writer living in exile in protest. 2. One who lives away from one's native country, whether because of expulsion or voluntary absence. tr.v. ex·iled, ex·il·ing, ex·iles To send into exile; banish: The royal family was exiled after the uprising.
[Middle English exil, from Old French, from Latin exilium, from exul, exsul, exiled person, wanderer.]
ex·ilic (ĭg-zĭlĭk, ĭk-sĭl-), ex·ilian (ĭg-zĭlyən, -zĭlē-ən, ĭk-sĭlyən, -sĭlē-ən) adj. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
Indo-European Roots
Semitic Roots
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.
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