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expel Definition

ex·pel (ek spel′, ik-)

transitive verb -·pelled′, -·pel′·ling

  1. to drive out by force; force out; eject
  2. to dismiss or send away by authority; deprive of rights, membership, etc.

Etymology: ME expellen < L expellere < ex-, out + pellere, to thrust: see pulse

expel Related Forms
ex·pel′·lable adjective ex′·pel·lee′ (eks′pel ē′) noun ex·pel′·ler noun
expel Synonyms

expel

v.

  1. To eject

    get rid of, cast out, dislodge; see eject 1.

  2. To dismiss

    suspend, discharge, oust; see dismiss 1, 2. See syn. study at eject.

expel Usage Examples

Object

  • diplomat: We have been urging other countries to expel Iraqi diplomats in order to minimize this threat.
  • Albanian: Serb forces reportedly expelled all ethnic Albanians from this village, then burned it down.
  • toxin: The leaves, flowers and berries are beneficial in cases of cols and flu, as they expel toxins from the body.
  • worm: The powdered bark can be effective in helping to expel intestinal worms.
  • inspector: The US government maintains that Saddam Hussein expelled the UN inspectors from Iraq in 1998, but this is not true.

Used with why or when

  • when: But was expelled when his republican views became known.

Preposition: by

  • force: Olana, a truth-seeker is transformed into a despotic emperor, wreaking havoc until he is finally expelled by forces of nature.

Modifying Another Word

  • forcibly: The catheter was forcibly expelled just prior to her son's birth causing permanent damage to the Claimant's urethra.
  • summarily: After a week in incommunicado detention he was taken to the airport and summarily expelled from the country to Belgium on 15 June.
  • reportedly: Serb forces reportedly expelled all the ethnic Albanian population, then burned the village.
  • systematically: Current Situation Serb forces continue to systematically expel Kosovo Albanians.
  • formally: He and the others were expelled formally on 17 February 1938, 115 and faced the united opposition of the other groups.
  • subsequently: He was subsequently expelled from the SPD in 1922.

Preposition: from

  • membership: Failure to observe the Code of Practice may cause the member to be expelled from membership.
  • union: People arbitrarily excluded or expelled from any union must be given the right of appeal to a court of law.
  • party: First they were expelled from the Bolshevik Party, then driven into exile.
  • school: Diana Who was expelled from school for burning down the science lab?
  • league: The game will go ahead as planned after the Nationwide League dismissed suggestions that Swansea would be expelled from the league.
expel Quotes

And as for you, archers, soldiers, gentlemen, and all otherswhoare besieging Orleans,depart in God'sname to your own country† I assure you that wherever I find your people in France I shall fight them, and pursue them, and expel them from here, whether they will or not.

—StJoan of Arc

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam

   I have got the North Pole out of my system after twenty- three years of effort, hard work, disappointments, hardships, privations, more or less suffering, and some risks† The work is the finish, the cap and climax of nearly four hundred years of effort, loss of life, and expenditure of fortunes by the civilized nations of the world, and it has been accomplished in a way that is thoroughly American. I am content.

—Peary, Robert Edwin

Expenditure rises to meet income.

—Parkinson, C(yril) Northcote

Everybody is always in favour of general economy and particular expenditure.

—Eden, Sir (Robert) Anthony, 1st Earl of Avon

Consider: only one bullet in ten thousand kills a man. Ask: was so much expenditure justified On the death of one so young and so silly Stretched under the olive trees,Oh, world,Oh, death?

—Spender, Sir Stephen Harold