ostracise

verb

"ostracise" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ostracise” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of ostracize.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ostracise · ostracise · English

ostracise · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "O" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for ostracise
PropertyValue
Headwordostracise
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “ostracise” in English

ostraciseranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ostracise is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of ostracize.".

Zero misspellings are on record for ostracise in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is ostracise, spelled O-S-T-R-A-C-I-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of ostracize.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how ostracise appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. You then moſt Noble Equivocations and Alluſions, whom Rhetorick would Oſtraciſe, ſeek Revenge for your Baniſhment; [...]
  2. The inflexible advocate[s] of the people's rights, were either expelled the Senate Chamber, ostracised, or immolated on the reeking altars of patriotism, by the encrimsoned sword of slaughtering persecution.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ostracise"?
"ostracise" is spelled O-S-T-R-A-C-I-S-E.
What does "ostracise" mean?
As a verb, "ostracise" means: Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of ostracize.
What language does "ostracise" come from?
"ostracise" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list