Hypertext Webster Gateway: "excommunication"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Excommunication \Ex`com*mu`ni*ca"tion\, n. [L. excommunicatio:
cf. F. excommunication.]
The act of communicating or ejecting; esp., an ecclesiastical
censure whereby the person against whom it is pronounced is,
for the time, cast out of the communication of the church;
exclusion from fellowship in things spiritual.
Note: excommunication is of two kinds, the lesser and the
greater; the lesser excommunication is a separation or
suspension from partaking of the Eucharist; the greater
is an absolute execution of the offender from the
church and all its rights and advantages, even from
social intercourse with the faithful.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
excommunication
n 1: the state of being excommunicated [syn: {exclusion}, {censure}]
2: the act of banishing a member of the Church from the
communion of believers and the privileges of the Church
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