What does expellee mean?
Expellee is a formal noun for a person who has been expelled from an institution, especially a student dismissed from a school, college, or university. It can also refer more generally to someone removed from membership in a club, society, or other body, although the educational use is the one most people encounter. The word is less common in everyday speech than the phrase “expelled student,” and it may sound administrative, legal, or formal. In institutional reports, news coverage, and historical accounts, it efficiently identifies someone whose removal resulted from a formal decision. Expellee is also useful when the person is being discussed generally rather than as the subject of an active expulsion. It can sound clinical or impersonal, since the word names the person's status rather than their experience. Overall, expellee is a specialized but precise noun for a person who has been formally excluded.
nounA person who has been expelled, especially a student dismissed from a school, college, or university.
- A person who has been expelled from an educational institution, especially a school, college, or university.
"The university offered counseling and appeal procedures to each expellee."
"The scholarship committee allowed each expellee to present an appeal."
"The report lists the grounds on which every expellee was dismissed."
The regular plural refers collectively or individually to people who have been expelled.
"The school provided transcripts and counseling information to the two expellees."
Expellee turns a dramatic event—the expulsion—into a formal label for the person who experienced it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does expellee come from?
Expellee was formed in English from expel and the suffix -ee, a development associated with French -é and used to denote a person on whom an action is performed. Expel comes ultimately from Latin expellere, meaning “to drive out,” formed from ex- and pellere, “to drive.” The same Latin foundation underlies related words such as expulsion, expulsive, and expulsory.
How expellee is actually used
The noun is formal, institutional, and relatively uncommon in everyday conversation. It can sound administrative or impersonal because it identifies a person's status rather than describing the circumstances of their departure.
Easily confused with expellee
Expellee is a noun naming the person who has been expelled, whereas expelled is usually an adjective or participle describing the act or the person.