- Not to be confused with prescription and other meanings of .
Proscription is, in current usage, a "decree of condemnation to death or banishment" (
OED) and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The term originated in
Ancient Rome, where it included public identification and official condemnation of declared
enemies of the state. It has been used broadly since to describe similar governmental and political actions, with varying degrees of nuance, including the
en masse suppression of ideologies and elimination of political rivals or personal enemies. In addition to its recurrences during the various phases of the
Roman Republic, it has become a standard term to label: