defenestration

/dɪˌfɛnɪˈstɹeɪʃ(ə)n/

Why this word is great

DEFENESTRATION — [Noun] The act of throwing someone or something out of a window, especially lethally, or the high-profile removal of a person from an organization. From the Latin de- ("down from") and fenestra ("window"). Unlike "ejection" (general removal or expulsion, not specifically through a window) or "ouster" (forcible removal from a position, but lacking dramatic violence), defenestration is a spectacle of abrupt, irreversible descent. It is the shattered glass of Prague’s Second Defenestration, the flailing limbs of a medieval traitor, the office plant tumbling from a corporate high-rise—a reminder that some exits are not just dismissals but plunges into the abyss.

noun

  1. The act of throwing something or especially someone out of a window, especially lethally.“The "Defenestration" at Prague (A.D. 1618). [...] The imperial Austrian Councillors are thrown out of the window of the castle of Hradschin by the enraged Bohemian Deputies [...]”
  2. The high-profile removal of a person from an organization.“Be that as it may, his defenestration was coldly abrupt, and in his place, the Football Association resurrected a veteran manager and former England star in Joe Mercer for seven games.”
  3. The high-profile removal of a person from an organization.; to eliminate from a contest or sport championship“Parrott had described Thursday’s defenestration of Cristiano Ronaldo’s team as the best night of his life, only for Sunday to be yet more gloriously dramatic. The former Tottenham trainee, who plays in the Dutch Eredivisie for AZ Alkmaar, would almost certainly not have started Ireland’s double-header had Roma’s Evan Ferguson not injured an ankle.”
  4. The act of removing the Microsoft Windows operating system from a computer in order to install an alternative one.“Defenestration might be an option too. May I recommend Linux?”