defenestrate

/dɪˈfɛnɪstɹeɪt/

defenestrate means to eject or throw (someone or something) from or through a window.

defenestrate is pronounced /dɪˈfɛnɪstɹeɪt/.

Why “defenestrate” is a great word

To throw someone or something out of a window. From the Latin de- (“down from, away”) and fenestra (“window”), first attested in English in the early 17th century with reference to the Defenestration of Prague. Unlike “eject,” a generic term for removal, or “oust,” which implies a political or administrative removal, “defenestrate” carries the architectural specificity of sudden, irrevocable departure. It is the assassin’s preferred exit for a Bohemian nobleman, the catapulted chair that follows a laptop in a moment of rage, or the slow tumble of a potted geranium from a sixth-story sill—a word that acknowledges the window not as mere glass but as threshold, boundary, and sudden terminus.

verb

To eject or throw (someone or something) from or through a window.e.g.“I defenestrated a clock to see if time flies!”
To throw out; to remove or dismiss (someone) from a position of power or authority.e.g.“The cultural historians of science 'feel the need to defenestrate science, or at least take it off its pedestal' (Pumfrey. Rossi & Slawinski 1991. p. 3).”
To remove a Windows operating system from (a computer).e.g.“This posting was written on a Windows 95 PC, Defenestrate it immediately. Install Linux. :-)”

Words closest in meaning

By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.

defenestration 95% match — The act of throwing something or especially someone out of a window, especially lethally. vs defenestrate →
autodefenestrate 90% match — To eject or hurl oneself from a window, especially lethally. vs defenestrate →
autodefenestration 90% match — The act of hurling oneself from a window, especially lethally. vs defenestrate →
lapidate 83% match — To throw stones or other objects at, as punishment, sometimes until death. vs defenestrate →
regicide 81% match — The killing of a king. vs defenestrate →
machicolate 80% match — To furnish with machicolations. vs defenestrate →
machicolation 80% match — An opening between corbels that support a projecting parapet, or in the floor of a gallery or the roof of a portal, of a fortified building from which missiles can be shot or heated items dropped upon assailants attacking the base of the walls. vs defenestrate →
eventerate 80% match — To rip open; to disembowel. vs defenestrate →