To banish someone means to officially force them to leave a place and never return. Kings once banished criminals or political enemies from their kingdoms, sending them away as punishment. A person who is banished loses their home, their community, and often their family.

The word comes from an old practice of declaring someone an outlaw, putting them outside the protection of the law. In medieval times, being banished could be worse than going to prison: you might have nowhere to go, no way to earn money, and no one to help you.

Today, countries still banish people through deportation, forcing them to leave and forbidding them to return. The word also works in less dramatic ways. You might banish clutter from your room by clearing everything out, or a teacher might banish cell phones from the classroom. When you banish negative thoughts, you push them firmly out of your mind.

The word suggests something stronger than just leaving. When something is banished, it’s actively driven away and forbidden to return. Once banished, the person or thing is meant to stay gone for good.