Exile means banishment. The word can serve as a noun or a verb. To exile somebody means to forcibly make someone leave a place or country by a decree. The period of an exile is usually for a long duration of time. Though most of the time it is the king, the military coup or a government which forces a person go on exile, sometimes a person can go on an exile voluntarily to escape punishment.
In ancient Greek history, we learn that exile was usually a punishment for murder. The ancient Rome used to give a citizen facing a death sentence a choice between death and going on an exile. The ancient Hebrews allowed culprits who committed homicide to be deported to a designate place of refuge. English criminals were sent on exile to American colonies till the year 1776, after which till the year 1853, they were deported to Australia. The communist government and the Russian czar rule would exile prisoners to Siberia.
In the modern world, it becomes difficult for some countries to bring back the offenders who are hiding in a different country because of non-extradition treaties. Words like ostracism, extradition, expatriation, deportation are the synonyms of the noun form of the word. The verb form of the word has synonyms like ostracize, expel, deport, expatriate etc. Romeo from Shakespeare's famous literary masterpiece 'Romeo and Juliet' was a character who had gone on an exile. The recent few years has seen Nawaz Sharif, once prime-minister of Pakistan sent on an exile to Saudi Arabia and then to other countries following a military coup from Pervez Musharraf.
In ancient Greek history, we learn that exile was usually a punishment for murder. The ancient Rome used to give a citizen facing a death sentence a choice between death and going on an exile. The ancient Hebrews allowed culprits who committed homicide to be deported to a designate place of refuge. English criminals were sent on exile to American colonies till the year 1776, after which till the year 1853, they were deported to Australia. The communist government and the Russian czar rule would exile prisoners to Siberia.
In the modern world, it becomes difficult for some countries to bring back the offenders who are hiding in a different country because of non-extradition treaties. Words like ostracism, extradition, expatriation, deportation are the synonyms of the noun form of the word. The verb form of the word has synonyms like ostracize, expel, deport, expatriate etc. Romeo from Shakespeare's famous literary masterpiece 'Romeo and Juliet' was a character who had gone on an exile. The recent few years has seen Nawaz Sharif, once prime-minister of Pakistan sent on an exile to Saudi Arabia and then to other countries following a military coup from Pervez Musharraf.
