DictionaryAI

exclude

verb
iks-KLOOD/ɪksˈkluːd/

Formsexcludes, excluding, excluded

5 meanings of exclude

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To bar someone or something from entering a place or group; to keep out.

    Tall walls exclude street noise from the courtyard.

    The committee voted to exclude reporters from the closed session.

    Similarbar, ban, block, prohibit

    Oppositeadmit, include

    Note

    Latin built this sense literally: ex- "out" plus a form of claudō, "close," so to exclude is to shut something out, as folding doors shut out smoke and wind. The usual construction names what is kept out and then where from. The from-phrase can also take a verb: David Austin Walsh describes the 1924 Immigration Act as designed to exclude certain groups "from entering the country."

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To leave out of consideration; to omit from a count, calculation, or discussion.

    The report's totals exclude part-time employees.

    Analysts excluded the holiday spike when projecting normal sales.

    Similaromit, disregard, discount, ignore, except

    Oppositeinclude

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To expel or put out; to force someone or something to leave.

    The league voted to exclude the team after repeated violations.

    The body excludes foreign particles through coughing and sneezing.

    Similarexpel, eject, oust, remove

    Oppositeadmit

    Note

    Here the movement runs the other way, from shutting out to pushing out. Older natural history used it of bodies expelling what was inside them: young animals excluded from the womb or the egg, and, in John Baptista Porta's Natural Magick (1669), birds that excluded swallowed seed whole along with their dung. Modern use keeps the idea of forced removal, as when a league ejects a team.

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To refuse to accept evidence as valid, ruling that the court cannot consider it.

    Courts routinely exclude testimony obtained through coercion.

    The judge excluded the confession after finding the suspect's rights had been violated.

    Similardisallow, suppress, reject

    Oppositeadmit

    Note

    Courtroom usage aims the verb at evidence rather than people. A judge excludes testimony, a document or a confession, which means ruling that the finder of fact may not weigh it. The idea of keeping someone out still shows through, because the evidence is barred from the case. The adjective for the result is inadmissible, and excluded evidence is treated as if it had never been offered.

  5. 5
    verbtransitive
    To eliminate a disease or other possible cause from consideration when making a diagnosis.

    An ultrasound can exclude gallstones as the source of the pain.

    The cardiologist excluded a heart attack before discharging the patient.

    Similareliminate

    Oppositeconfirm

    Note

    Clinicians use the verb as the formal equivalent of rule out. A test excludes a fracture, an infection or a heart attack, and a chart may record that a condition was excluded. Unlike simply leaving something out, this is a positive finding: the evidence shows the cause is absent, not merely set aside. The object is always the possible diagnosis, never the patient.

Practice

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Origin

Borrowed from Latin exclūdō, formed from the prefix ex- ("out") plus a variant of the verb claudō ("close").