Involves

Word

Ostracism

OS-truh-siz-um · noun

Exclusion from a community; in ancient Athens, a vote that could send a citizen into temporary exile

Examples

  • Athenians used ostracism against men whose influence had become politically threatening.

  • Social ostracism can silence a dissenter without answering the dissent.

Origin

The word comes from ostrakon, a Greek word for a pottery fragment. Athenians scratched names onto these pieces when voting on exile. The modern social meaning preserves the act of exclusion while usually losing the formal procedure and fixed duration.

How it connects

The pottery ballot gave exclusion its enduring name.

This word appeared in Voting a powerful man out of the city, the Involves connection for September 10, 2026, which asked: Can a democracy restrain influence without proving a crime?

Check yourself

Which example best captures the broader meaning of ostracism?

A group excludes someone from its shared activities. Exactly. Ostracism is exclusion. It can operate socially without a legal judgment.

What the sources establish

  • The Athenian institution used inscribed pottery fragments and temporary exile; the modern term extends the idea to social exclusion.

Sources