exile means the state of being banished from one's home or country. It carries an Arena rating of 1628, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, exile ranks #146 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,073 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,339 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,053 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
exile is pronounced /ˈɛɡˌzaɪl/.
Why “exile” is a great word
The state of being barred from one's homeland, or the person who endures it; the act of imposing this separation. Its lineage flows from the Latin *exsilium*, "state of exile," born from *exsul*, "an exiled person." Unlike "deport" (a legal ejection for a violation) or "banish" (a punitive decree from a sovereign place), exile is the condition of being untethered, a severance not just from soil but from the very context of a self. It is the taste of air that carries no familiar scent, the ache for a horizon whose shape is memory alone, and the perpetual shadow of a door that has closed forever—the quiet, cosmic price of belonging somewhere first.
Etymology
From Middle English exil, borrowed from Old French essil, exil, from Latin exsilium, exilium (“state of exile”), derived from exsul, exul (“exiled person”).
noun
- The state of being banished from one's home or country.e.g.“He lived in exile.”
- Someone who is banished from his home or country.e.g.“She lived as an exile, and did her best to make the most out of such life.”
verb
- To send (someone or something) into exile.e.g.“Calling home our exiled friends abroad.” — c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount,
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).