How to Use excommunication in a Sentence

excommunication

noun
  • Those who asked questions loud enough to be heard risked excommunication on charges of heresy.
    — Ted Ladd, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2023
  • The threat of excommunication did nothing to change their minds.
    — Omar G. Encarnación, Foreign Affairs, 19 Mar. 2013
  • But raising the age question was grounds for excommunication from the high command of the Biden orbit.
    — Philip Elliott, TIME, 28 June 2024
  • While not a lifelong ban, excommunication is a rare move that amounts to the harshest punishment available for a church member.
    — Brady McCombs, The Seattle Times, 10 Sep. 2018
  • While not a lifelong ban, excommunication is a rare move that amounts to the harshest punishment available for a church member.
    — Brady McCombs, Fox News, 16 Sep. 2018
  • Breaking it for any reason is a grave sin punishable by excommunication.
    — Rob Taylor and, WSJ, 3 Aug. 2018
  • They are set to be bailed out in two days, and the colony’s bishop demands that the victims forgive them—or else face excommunication and be denied a spot in heaven.
    — Ruth Madievsky, The Atlantic, 20 Nov. 2024
  • There’s a flashback to Ron going to his parents’ house right after his excommunication.
    — Scott D. Pierce, The Salt Lake Tribune, 20 May 2022
  • But amid all the arcana and arms deals, the enemies and excommunications, the series had a few key sustaining constants.
    — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2023
  • The process could lead to a member’s excommunication, but the spokesman said he was not authorized to comment on the outcome of the proceedings.
    — Rich Schapiro, NBC news, 20 June 2026
  • His racial worldview has cost him jobs and led to his excommunication from his Orthodox Christian church.
    — Marwa Eltagouri, chicagotribune.com, 14 Mar. 2018
  • What’s more compelling is once again hearing about her affair with her brother-in-law and the excommunication and rebaptism that followed.
    — Tom Smyth, Vulture, 2 Jan. 2024
  • The Vatican, wanting to keep the piece to itself, threatened excommunication for anyone who copied down the score.
    — Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 29 Mar. 2013
  • At the time, one of the pope’s chief sources of power was excommunication, which essentially kicked someone out of the church and, by extension, heaven.
    — Lanta Davis and Vince Reighard, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Mar. 2024
  • Under the deal, Zhan, in turn, would have his excommunication lifted by Pope Francis.
    — Nicole Winfield, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Mar. 2018
  • His excommunication is a signal that baseball is finally trying to change a culture too often hostile to women.
    — New York Times, 30 Apr. 2021
  • It must be reported to the Vatican and can carry the penalty of excommunication.
    — Nicole Winfield, Houston Chronicle, 7 June 2019
  • On a different show, such a misstep might be more explosive, resulting in excommunication or insults that can’t be taken back.
    — Selome Hailu, Variety, 14 July 2022
  • Local lay leaders could choose to take no action, restrict her membership or withdraw it (the latter penalty used to be termed excommunication).
    — Kathy Stephenson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 16 Apr. 2021
  • Prince added that excommunications are more common in the Mormon Church, however.
    — Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post, 8 Aug. 2017
  • Such views, along with Luther’s refusal to renounce them, resulted in his excommunication from the Catholic Church.
    — Kristin E. Holmes, Philly.com, 27 Oct. 2017
  • Bannon, ousted from the White House in August, has seen his excommunication finalized in the book’s wake.
    — Tory Newmyer, Washington Post, 8 Jan. 2018
  • In this scenario, the Church’s supreme authority will have no other option than to declare the excommunication publicly.
    — Fr. Goran Jovicic, National Review, 13 June 2021
  • The trio of Jane Doe accusers testified they were threatened with excommunication and told not to go to the police with their accusations.
    — Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Feb. 2023
  • The Vatican said Viganò had been told of the excommunication and that only the Holy See could lift the sanction.
    — Christopher Lamb, CNN, 5 July 2024
  • In 1988 the group ordained four bishops without papal approval, which led to their excommunication.
    — Christopher Lamb, CNN Money, 30 June 2026
  • The play was decried as heresy by the French Roman Catholic Church, which banned it and threatened those who watched or performed it with excommunication.
    — David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Mar. 2024
  • Catholics who read titles on the Index of Forbidden Books risked excommunication.
    — Joëlle Rollo-Koster, The Conversation, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Thus, for the people of the Andes to be without coca is a form of social and spiritual death, an excommunication from existence itself.
    — Wade Davis, Rolling Stone, 6 Apr. 2025
  • The Vatican in 2009 lifted those original excommunications as part of its outreach to try to bring the group back under its wing.
    — ABC News, 30 June 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'excommunication.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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