From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishexileex‧ile1 /ˈeksaɪl, ˈeɡzaɪl/ ●○○ noun 1 [singular, uncountable]LEAVE YOUR HOME/COUNTRY a situation in which you are forced to leave your country and live in another country, especially for political reasonsin exile a writer now living in exile He went into exile to escape political imprisonment.force/drive somebody into exile The house was raided and the family was forced into exile. He spent many years in enforced exile.voluntary/self-imposed exile She had been in voluntary exile since 1990.2 [countable]LEAVE YOUR HOME/COUNTRY someone who has been forced to live in exile political exiles → tax exileCOLLOCATIONSverbsgo into exileNapoleon's wife and sons also went into exile.live in exileThe Guatemalan writer has lived in exile in Mexico for over 40 years.be sent into exileThe old leaders were removed from power and sent into exile.be forced/driven into exileMany of his political opponents have been forced into exile.flee/escape into exileHundreds of people fled into exile or were jailed.die in exileHe never returned to his own country, but died in exile.return from exileMartinez returned from exile to the islands in May 1990 and was later elected president.adjectiveslong exileThe first of many refugees have finally returned home from a long exile in Senegal.permanent exileThe King threatened her with permanent exile.self-imposed/voluntary exile (=when someone goes into exile willingly, without being forced)He spoke to the media from his self-imposed exile in the United States.enforced exile (=when someone is forced to go into exile)After 12 years of enforced exile abroad, Almeyda returned home to Salvador.internal exile (=when someone is forced to move somewhere within a country)The governor has the power to send people into internal exile in other regions.
Examples from the Corpus
exile• The Smiths seduce us into aspiring to the same heroic pitch of failure and exile.• The loss to the liberation movement through gagging, imprisonment, intimidation and exile was enormous.• He wrote Hollywood Haven in response to requests for information about where the migr s and exiles lived, worked and gathered.• He was born in exile in the ex-Soviet republic of Kazahkhstan.• Euripides ended his life in exile from Athens.• Did the Lord ordain her maternal exile, or had Augustine bartered her pain for his purity?• These combine to turn a town of exiles into a place that nevertheless lifts one's spirit.• Five years of exile among strangers would soon be over.in exile• Some of her best works were written while she was in exile.exileexile2 verb [transitive] LEAVE YOUR HOME/COUNTRYto force someone to leave their country, especially for political reasonsbe exiled to something Several of the leaders were arrested and exiled to France.be exiled from something a dictator who was exiled from his home country the exiled former presidentGrammar Exile is usually passive.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
exile• Gen Pinochet has returned to a country that has elected Ricardo Lagos as president, a man he imprisoned and exiled.• But the young performers who play the exiled brothers are two of the best reasons to see this play.• Two months had passed since Emma had exiled Cassius with only the clothes on his back.• It is about motherhood and independence and it is about having women and children in society, not exiled from it.• Thousands more were exiled in labour camps on distant islands with no hope of release.• My marriage has exiled me in all the ways I predicted and more.• Quinn watched them all, anchored to his spot, as if his whole being had been exiled to his eyes.• The disloyal Duke, who had frequently been rebellious, was exiled to the Neustrian monastery of Jumieges.Origin exile1 (1300-1400) French exil, from Latin exilium, from exul “person sent away” 