Make Your Point > Archived Issues > OSTRACIZE

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explore the archives: Because to ostracize people means to banish them, kick them out, treat them like they don't belong, you might guess that ostracize is related somehow to oust or out. Nope. But its real history is fascinating. Ostracize comes from a Greek word for "tile or pottery shard," which came from another word meaning "bone." In ancient Athens, citizens would vote for which dangerous people should be banished by writing the offenders' names on pottery shards and placing them in urns to be counted. Someone whose name turned up a bunch--6,000 or more times, to be exact--was then banished from the city, or ostracized. So, although the process had nothing to do with actual bones and everything to do with pottery shards (ancient scrap paper), we still see the similarity between ostracize and other bone-related words, like osseous ("bony"), ossicle ("teeny bone"), and o____y ("to turn into bone, or figuratively, to become very rigid and inflexible"). Can you recall that last one? make your point with... "OSTRACIZE" To ostracize people is to force them to leave your group or leave your society. More loosely, to ostracize people is to ignore them and treat them like they don't belong. Pronunciation: OSS truh size Part of speech: Transitive verb. (Like "eat," "try," and "want," all transitive verbs do something to an object. You eat a banana, try a game, and want a new phone. Likewise, you ostracize someone.) Other forms: Ostracized, ostracizing. For the noun, we usually use "ostracism" (OSS truh sizz um), and that's the form I recommend, but it's also correct to use "ostracization." How to use it: Talk about people ostracizing other people, either strictly ("They ostracized her; she'll be killed if she tries to return") or loosely ("They ostracized him; he'll get the cold shoulder if he tries to sit at their lunch table again"). Ostracism can be well-deserved ("after he bragged about hurting animals, the other children ostracized him") or very unfair ("historically, we've ostracized immigrants and the mentally ill") or anything in between. You can be ostracized from a group or society: "He was ostracized from the council." And you can be ostracized for some unacceptable action, or be ostracized for doing something unacceptable: "She was ostracized for her outspokenness," "She was ostracized for speaking out." examples: Because she could prove that she had been harassed about her disability, then ostracized, then fired, she easily won the lawsuit. Disney Channel shows have their own logic, I guess: you might get ostracized from the cool crowd if they discover that you enjoy something as "nerdy" as competitive jump rope. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "ostracize" means when you can explain it without saying "to freeze people out" or "to exclude people from your group." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "If you (do something unacceptable) (in a particular social situation), you face ostracism." Example: "If you try to publish plagiarized work in an academic journal, you face ostracism." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. Our game this month is called "Cousins or Strangers?" Consider two pairs of similar-looking words, and figure out which pair are truly related, like cousins, and which pair are unrelated, like strangers. "Related," of course, is a relative concept (ha ha). We're interested in closeness: "compute" and "computer" are sisters, or variations of the same word; "vision" and "video" are cousins, sharing the same Latin root; but "compute" and "video" are strangers. From our previous issue: Pair A: MINE and MINERAL. These are the cousins. "Mineral" comes from the Medieval Latin word for "something mined"--so a mineral is literally a thing from a mine. Pair B: REIN and REINDEER. I had guessed incorrectly that Santa was somehow involved here, but these are the strangers. "Rein" traces back to the Latin retinere, "to hold back," while "reindeer" has an odd Scandinavian origin: it's from a word that meant "deer animal," meaning the "rein" part alone came from the name for the specific animal and the "deer" part meant "animal in general." Ready to check out two more pairs? Remember, one pair will be cousins; the other, strangers. Which is which? Pair A: TOUCHY and TETCHY Pair B: SPY and ESPIONAGE review today's word: 1. One opposite of OSTRACIZE is A. EMBRACE B. DISCOVER C. VOUCHSAFE 2. When _____, he wondered what he had done to merit ostracism. A. his hourly pay rate suddenly increased by forty percent B. he was constantly besieged by negative, nitpicking feedback  C. his privileges at the club were silently and inexplicably revoked Answers are below. a final word: To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. C