Balkanize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to divide (a country, territory, etc.) into small, quarrelsome, ineffectual states.
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(often lowercase) to divide (groups, areas, etc.) into contending and usually ineffectual factions.
a movement to balkanize minority voters.
verb
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(tr) to divide (a territory) into small warring states
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to divide (a group or organization) into small factions
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Balkanize
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Long annoyed by the city's experiments in school decentralization, which threatened to Balkanize both the schools and his union, Shanker got tough when the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school board tried to oust 13 of "his" teachers.
From Time Magazine Archive
Opponents of the new AVAs are worried that creating subregions will Balkanize the valley and dilute the reputation of its wines.
From Time Magazine Archive
We're used to being multicultural, and though we're constantly struggling with the consequences, we don't Balkanize because of it.
From Time Magazine Archive
Wilson similarly complains that the move would Balkanize the Governor's office.
From Time Magazine Archive
Since TV now is such a Balkanized affair.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024
The administrative oversight of these public investments including county and city governments and the King County Regional Homelessness Authority is highly Balkanized with predictable results.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2023
Are we sure several smaller, possibly Balkanized platforms would do a better job?
From Slate ● May 10, 2019
"This country is just so fragmented and Balkanized," says Shteyngart.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2018
But obviously, so long as they continued to be Balkanized the chances of rapid progress were minimized.
From Black Man's Burden by Reynolds, Mack
While Europe was Balkanizing, the city fathers were amalgamating what become the five boroughs into Greater New York.
From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2017
We took a broad look at how pressure from some world governments has forced Facebook — and other platforms — to adjust their operations, effectively Balkanizing the promise of an anything-goes internet.
From New York Times ● Sep. 24, 2017
In response, several nations have developed their own rules for online users, Balkanizing the regulation of the web.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2016
This amazing creation, which fitted in with the Balkanizing craze of the moment, was the work of a few wire-pullers in which the easy-going inhabitants had neither hand nor part.
From The Inside Story of the Peace Conference by Dillon, Emile Joseph
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
