ethnic cleansing

American  

noun

1. the elimination of an unwanted ethnic group or groups from a society, as by genocide or forced emigration.

---

ethnic cleansing British  

noun

1. euphemistic the violent removal by one ethnic group of other ethnic groups from the population of a particular area: used esp of the activities of Serbs against Croats and Muslims in the former Yugoslavia

---

ethnic cleansing Cultural  

1. A euphemism to describe the forceful removal or genocide of minority ethnic groups (see ethnicity) during the breakup of Yugoslavia. It was used mainly to describe the Serbs' attacks on Muslims in Bosnia and Albanians in Kosovo. (See Slobodan Milosevic and Kosovo War.)

---

Etymology

Origin of ethnic cleansing

First recorded in 1985–90

Compare meaning

How does ethnic-cleansing compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• ethnic cleansing vs. genocide

Example Sentences

Dancing to drums in downtown Yangon, the crowd of nationalist activists and saffron-robed monks twirled miniature national flags and toted banners denying accusations of ethnic cleansing being levelled at The Hague.

From Barron's • Jan. 27, 2026

Israel is joyous over a deal that ends the war with no ethnic cleansing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025

The UN secretary general has also warned that it is "essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing" and stressed that Gaza would be an integral part of a future Palestinian state.

From BBC • Feb. 6, 2025

While the original plantation scheme envisioned the complete ethnic cleansing of Ulster’s indigenous Irish-speaking Catholics, that proved impractical — the new landlords required laborers and servants, after all.

From Salon • Oct. 19, 2024

I do not know what ethnic cleansing means.

From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung