disfellowshipped
Cast out officially
Disfellowshipped means formally expelled from a religious community, especially among Jehovah's Witnesses.
The practice involves cutting off social contact with the expelled person, even by family members: After he was disfellowshipped, his own parents wouldn't speak to him.
The term carries weight beyond simple excommunication—it implies total shunning.
Deliberately avoiding someone
- avoidanceDeliberate keeping away
- silent treatmentRefusing to speak
- ghostingAbruptly ceasing all communication
- non-contactWithout physical touch
isolation · rejection · ignoring · separation · estrangement · social death · no contact · cut ties
Formal barring from sacraments
- sanctionApproval or punitive measure
- disciplineTrained self-control or specialty
- expulsionForced permanent removal
- condemnationSevere disapproval expressed formally
rebuke · censure · reprimand · judgment · chastisement · correction · reproof · admonishment
Officially cut from church
- apostateOne who renounces faith
- hereticChallenger of official doctrine
- congregationAssembled group of worshippers
- Jehovah's WitnessChristian denomination rejecting holidays
elder · tribunal · reinstatement · repentance · confession · unrepentant · apostasy · denomination
shunning
Deliberately avoiding someone
- avoidanceDeliberate keeping away
- silent treatmentRefusing to speak
- ghostingAbruptly ceasing all communication
non-contact · isolation · rejection · ignoring · separation · estrangement · social death · no contact · cut ties · abandonment
excommunication
Formal barring from sacraments
- sanctionApproval or punitive measure
- disciplineTrained self-control or specialty
- expulsionForced permanent removal
condemnation · rebuke · censure · reprimand · judgment · chastisement · correction · reproof · admonishment · denunciation
excommunicated
Officially cut from church
- apostateOne who renounces faith
- hereticChallenger of official doctrine
- congregationAssembled group of worshippers
Jehovah's Witness · elder · tribunal · reinstatement · repentance · confession · unrepentant · apostasy · denomination · sect
shunned
Persistently avoided socially
banished · alienated · isolated · rejected · marginalized · snubbed · spurned · blackballed · disowned · cold-shouldered
- ex-believersapostate, ex-believer, former believer, lapsed, deconvert
- sinnerssinner, transgressor, evildoer, wrongdoer, blasphemer
disfellowshippedreinstated
Returned to previous position
fellowshipped · restored · in good standing · baptized · accepted
disfellowshippedwelcomed
Received with pleasure
embraced · accepted · included · received · celebrated
disfellowshippedreinstated
Returned to previous position
reconciled · readmitted · forgiven · rehabilitated · redeemed
disfellowship, fellowship, fellowships, fellow, fellows, ship, shipped, shipping