chauvinism
Americannoun
-
zealous and aggressive patriotism or blind enthusiasm for military glory.
-
biased devotion to any group, attitude, or cause.
religious chauvinism.
-
the denigration, disparagement, and patronization of a particular gender based on the belief that one gender is inferior to another and thus deserving of less than equal treatment or benefit.
noun
-
aggressive or fanatical patriotism; jingoism
-
enthusiastic devotion to a cause
-
smug irrational belief in the superiority of one's own race, party, sex, etc
male chauvinism
Discover More
The word chauvinism is often used as shorthand for “male chauvinism,” a term describing the attitudes of men who believe that women are inferior and should not be given equal status with men. (See also feminism (see also feminism).)
Other Word Forms
- chauvinist noun
- chauvinistic adjective
- chauvinistically adverb
Etymology
Origin of chauvinism
First recorded in 1865–70; from French chauvinisme, equivalent to chauvin “jingo” (named after N. Chauvin, a soldier in Napoleon's army noted for loud-mouthed patriotism) + -isme -ism
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.
Brie Larson produces and stars in “Lessons in Chemistry” as a scientist who, faced with the chauvinism of 1950s society, channels her passions into a TV cooking show that stirs science into her recipes.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 27, 2023
“The current flourishing of novels by women and cultural minorities,” he concedes, “shows the chauvinism of judging the vitality of American letters by the fortunes of the traditional social novel.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 21, 2023
It was precisely that granular aspect of Torvald’s chauvinism that Moayed wanted to explore.
From Washington Post • Mar. 17, 2023
It's not pure chauvinism that leads the historian to prefer the local iteration above all others, claiming it's "thinner and crispier than its neighbor, farinata."
From Salon • Oct. 1, 2022
It says something about our century, our attitude toward life, our obsession with disease and death, our human chauvinism.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
