EXPEL (expelled, expelling)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: expelled    , expelling   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does expel mean? 

• EXPEL (verb)
  The verb EXPEL has 4 senses:

1. force to leave or move out

2. remove from a position or office

3. cause to flee

4. eliminate (a substance)

  Familiarity information: EXPEL used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXPEL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they expel    ... he / she / it expels   
Past simple: expelled   
Past participle: expelled   
-ing form: expelling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Force to leave or move out

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

expel; kick out; throw out

Context example:

He was expelled from his native country

Hypernyms (to "expel" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "expel"):

boot out; chuck out; eject; exclude; turf out; turn out (put out or expel from a place)

deport; exile; expatriate (expel from a country)

debar; suspend (bar temporarily; from school, office, etc.)

deliver; deport; extradite (hand over to the authorities of another country)

banish; bar; relegate (expel, as if by official decree)

ban; banish; blackball; cast out; ostracise; ostracize; shun (expel from a community or group)

ban; banish (ban from a place of residence, as for punishment)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

expulsion (the act of forcing out someone or something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Remove from a position or office

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

boot out; drum out; expel; kick out; oust; throw out

Context example:

The chairman was ousted after he misappropriated funds

Hypernyms (to "expel" is one way to...):

remove (remove from a position or an office)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "expel"):

excommunicate (oust or exclude from a group or membership by decree)

depose; force out (force to leave (an office))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

expulsion (the act of forcing out someone or something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to flee

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

expel; rout; rout out

Context example:

rout out the fighters from their caves

Hypernyms (to "expel" is one way to...):

defeat; get the better of; overcome (win a victory over)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 4

Meaning:

Eliminate (a substance)

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

discharge; eject; exhaust; expel; release

Context example:

the plant releases a gas

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "expel"):

blow (free of obstruction by blowing air through)

breathe; emit; pass off (expel (gases or odors))

fester; maturate; suppurate (ripen and generate pus)

eruct; spew; spew out (eject or send out in large quantities, also metaphorical)

bleed; hemorrhage; shed blood (lose blood from one's body)

egest; eliminate; excrete; pass (eliminate from the body)

ovulate (produce and discharge eggs)

abort (terminate a pregnancy by undergoing an abortion)

ejaculate (eject semen)

cough out; cough up; expectorate; spit out; spit up (discharge (phlegm or sputum) from the lungs and out of the mouth)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

expelling (any of several bodily processes by which substances go out of the body)

expulsion (the act of expelling or projecting or ejecting)

 Context examples 

While stars more massive than eight solar masses end their lives in dramatic supernovae explosions, less massive stars like this one gradually expel their outer layers, resulting in beautiful planetary nebulae.

(Giant Bubbles on Red Giant Star’s Surface, ESO)

The detection of oxygen in MACS1149-JD1 indicates that these earlier generations of stars had been already formed and expelled oxygen by just 500 million years after the beginning of the Universe.

(ALMA and VLT Find Evidence for Stars Forming Just 250 Million Years After Big Bang, ESO)

This energy inhibits star formation by heating the gas or expelling it from the galaxy.

(Massive Dead Disk Galaxy Challenges Theories of Galaxy Evolution, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Supermassive black holes lurk in the cores of most galaxies, and when they gobble up matter they also heat the surrounding gas and expel it from the host galaxy in powerful, dense winds.

(Stars Born in Winds from Supermassive Black Holes, ESO)

The material expelled by the star glows with different colors depending on its composition, its density and how close it is to the hot central star.

(Hubble Views a Colorful Demise of a Sun-like Star, NASA)

We drink more and excrete more urine, through which the body expels excess salt.

(How the body regulates salt levels, NIH)

Unless specifically directed, the solution is expelled and not swallowed.

(Gargle Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus)

The proportion of total forced vital capacity that is expelled during the first second of a forced exhalation as a proportion of the predicted normal value.

(Percent Predicted Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 Second Divided by Forced Vital Capacity, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

A spray composed of active and/or inert ingredient(s) that are expelled from a delivery device without the use of a propellant.

(Non-Aerosol Spray Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus)

Expelling the contents of the stomach and the sensations associated with it.

(Nausea and Vomiting, NCI Thesaurus)