exodus
noun
ˈeg-zə-
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Don't Leave Without the History of Exodos
The Biblical book of Exodus describes the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, so it's no surprise that the word exodus, uncapitalized, has come to refer more generally to any mass departure. Exodus was adopted into English (via Latin) from the Greek word Exodos, which literally means “the road out.” Exodos was formed by combining the prefix ex-, meaning “out of,” and hodos, meaning “road” or “way.” Indeed, many roads led out of hodos into English; other hodos descendants include episode, method, odometer, and period. While exodus is occasionally encountered in reference to an individual’s leaving (e.g., “his/her/their exodus”), such usage is likely to raise the eyebrows of editors who feel it should only refer to the departure en masse of a large group of people, as when novelist Nnedi Okorafor writes in her science fiction novel Lagoon (2015): “Everyone was trying to get somewhere, be it a church, a bar, home or out of Lagos. Then there was the exodus of people … to the parts of the city that had the least chance of flooding if the water rose too high.”
Examples of exodus in a Sentence
Lee Hamilton, Twin Cities, 7 Feb. 2025
Mass exodus from these and other key positions would be disastrous for our communities.
—Marj Halperin, Chicago Tribune, 5 Feb. 2025
Meanwhile, the exodus of big insurers over the past two years left independent brokers scrambling to find companies willing to protect people.
—Liz Baker, NPR, 4 Feb. 2025
While Venezuela still boasts of having the largest oil reserves on the planet, and the migration exodus means that there are significantly fewer mouths to feed, some five million Venezuelans are still going hungry in the country today.
—Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 2 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Exodus.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exodus. Accessed 12 Feb. 2025.
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exodus
noun
from Latin Exodus "a book of the Bible," derived from Greek exodos "a road or journey out," from ex- "out" and hodos "road"
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