Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - exclude

(excludes, excluding, excluded) 1. If you exclude someone from a place or activity, you prevent them from entering it or taking part in it. The Academy excluded women from its classes... Many of the youngsters feel excluded. VERB: V n from n, V-ed, also V n 2. If you exclude something that has some connection with what you are doing, you deliberately do not use it or consider it. They eat only plant foods, and take care to exclude animal products from other areas of their lives... In some schools, Christmas carols are being modified to exclude any reference to Christ. VERB: V n from n, V n 3. To exclude a possibility means to decide or prove that it is wrong and not worth considering. I cannot entirely exclude the possibility that some form of pressure was applied to the neck. VERB: usu with brd-neg, V n 4. To exclude something such as the sun’s rays or harmful germs means to prevent them physically from reaching or entering a particular place. This was intended to exclude the direct rays of the sun... VERB: V n