leper
19
8.4
- noun
- /ˈlɛpər/
- Offensive
:
apestado
- The woman contemplating an abortion may be treated like a moral leper in an unsympathetic and hostile environment.
You know, it was the slaves, it was the lepers.
- You know, it was the slaves, it was the lepers.
- A slave, a leper, or a beggar plays the role of mystagog, and a child may catechize another child, and it's a simple act.
Examples
-
One minute, your best friend, the next, you're a leper.
-
Sometimes it seems as if authors are treated either as lepers or idiots.
Blog text (1) -
I was beginning to think I was a leper or something.
-
It's difficult to welcome him and not treat him like a leper, but hopefully he will understand.
Blog text (3) -
But say you hate Christmas, everybody makes you feel like you're a leper.
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We are like lepers in medieval times.
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One minute I'm a leper with a trade, next minute my livelihood's gone.
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When I went back to school, I was welcomed with the measured warmth a leper receives at the village square.
Fiction book (1990) -
In Onitsha during this period, lepers were treated as outcasts, although not to such extremes as seen historically in Europe.
Academic text (2001) -
In her new school, she felt like a leper because no one wanted to be her friend.
Synonyms
27
9.0
A person rejected and avoided by other people
5
5.1
Not accepted by a group or community
A person who is excluded from a caste or social group and treated as outside society
A person who is not wanted in a place or group
Idioms
Compounds
How Shunned
Surface Forms
Etymology
Leper also came to mean someone who is avoided by others. This idea grew from the first meaning — because people would stay away from someone with the disease — so a leper can also mean an 'outcast' or a person who is shunned.