scacciare

Scacciare is a transitive Italian verb meaning to drive away, expel, banish, or dispel. It can refer to forcing someone or something to leave a place, to remove pests, or to cause an unwanted thing to disappear. The action is often physical but can also be figurative, such as scacciare una paura, scacciare i dubbi, or scacciare voci di un evento.

The construction is typically scacciare + direct object, with the option to add via to emphasize movement away (scacciare via). The verb is used in both literal and figurative contexts, including police or military actions to disperse a crowd, or to dispel superstitions and rumors in everyday speech.

Conjugation and formality: scacciare follows the regular -are conjugation pattern. In the present tense, forms commonly cited are io scaccio, tu scacci, lui/lei scaccia, noi scacciamo, voi scacciate, loro scacciano. The past participle is scacciato, and the gerund is scacciando. In compound tenses, the auxiliary typically used is avere (ho scacciato).

Etymology and related terms: the exact origin is uncertain, but scacciare derives from the Italian verb stem scacc- with typical -are verb inflection. It shares semantic space with allontanare and espellere but emphasizes a more forceful or direct act of making something or someone disappear, whether physically or figuratively.

See also: allontanare, espellere, dispellere.