shunned
Given cold shoulder
Shunned is the past tense of shun, meaning deliberately avoided or rejected.
Someone shunned by their community has been cut off from social contact: She was shunned after the scandal.
The word often implies collective rejection—a family, congregation, or social group turning their backs on someone: Former friends shunned him at the reunion.
Excluded from a group
- excludedShut out, denied entry
- rejectedRefused or turned away
- spurnedRejected with contempt
- snubbedIntentionally disregarded
blackballed · cold-shouldered · alienated · marginalized · unwelcome · persona non grata · disfavored · scorned
Forced to leave permanently
- exiledForced from one's country
- expelledOfficially removed or banished
- cast outForcibly remove or expel
- outcastShunned, rejected person
pariah · excommunicated · deported · displaced · evicted · dispossessed · driven out · sent away
Purposely not noticed
- overlookedNot noticed or considered
- neglectedNot given proper attention
- disregardedNot given consideration
- forgottenNo longer recalled
sidelined · dismissed · unacknowledged · invisible · passed over · brushed aside · left behind · abandoned
Deliberately stayed away from
- evadedSuccessfully avoided capture
- sidesteppedAvoided by moving aside
- eschewedDeliberately kept away from
- circumventedEvaded by going around
dodged · skirted · shied away from · rebuffed
ostracized
Excluded from a group
snubbed · blackballed · cold-shouldered · alienated · marginalized · unwelcome · persona non grata · disfavored · scorned · repudiated
banished
Forced to leave permanently
- exiledForced from one's country
- expelledOfficially removed or banished
- cast outForcibly remove or expel
outcast · pariah · excommunicated · deported · displaced · evicted · dispossessed · driven out · sent away · thrown out
ignored
Purposely not noticed
- overlookedNot noticed or considered
- neglectedNot given proper attention
- disregardedNot given consideration
forgotten · sidelined · dismissed · unacknowledged · invisible · passed over · brushed aside · left behind · abandoned · forsaken
avoided
Deliberately stayed away from
- evadedSuccessfully avoided capture
- sidesteppedAvoided by moving aside
- eschewedDeliberately kept away from
circumvented · dodged · skirted · shied away from · rebuffed
- exclusionexclude, excluded, rule out, banned, bans
- lonelinessalone, loneliness, lonely, solitude, isolation
- outcastsoutcast, pariah, pariahs, outcasts, outlaws
- Social rejectionrejection, exclusion, ostracism, snubbed, ignored
- outsidersoutcast, outsider, outcasts, pariah, misfit
- rejectedrejected, spurned, rebuffed, snubbed, refused