exclusion
Pluralexclusions (some meanings)
- 1The act of shutting someone or something out, or removing them from consideration or participation.
The committee's exclusion of independent candidates drew sharp criticism.
Repeated exclusion from class discussions left her feeling isolated.
Similaromission, barring, rejection, removal, ostracism
Note
The word came through Middle English from Latin exclusiō, built on exclūdō, and on the surface it is simply exclude plus -sion. It takes of for whoever is shut out and from for what they are shut out of. It can also name a formal barrier at a border: in 1981 two Dutch journalists detained at JFK were released pending an exclusion hearing, the step that would settle their entry.
- 2An item or risk that an insurance policy does not cover.
The policy listed earthquake damage as a standard exclusion.
Buyers should review every exclusion before purchasing coverage.
- 3The act of expelling or driving something out by force or pressure.
The physician described the exclusion of the egg from the hen's body.
Steady pressure brought about the exclusion of the gland's contents.
Note
A sense the language has let go. In Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646), Sir Thomas Browne writes of the exclusion of animals at birth and insists that the infant itself makes the first push, unlike an egg. The word here means pushing out something that was inside. It does not mean keeping out something that was outside, as in the everyday shutting-out sense. In modern writing, expulsion does this job.
Practice
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Origin
This word came through Middle English "exclusion" from Old French and from Latin "exclusio", which comes from the verb "excludo". In English it can be seen as "exclude" plus the suffix "-sion".