chauvinism
- 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 either sex based on the belief that one sex is inferior to the other and thus deserving of less than equal treatment or benefit.Compare male chauvinism.
Origin of chauvinism
Related Words for chauvinism
fanaticism, nationalism, jingoism, narrowness, zealotry, ethnocentricityExamples from the Web for chauvinism
Contemporary Examples of chauvinism
We will give up and stop any manifestations of chauvinism and xenophobia.
Let's hope that that the increased presence of women in the new Knesset will help free us from that chauvinism once and for all.
But the proper corrective to chauvinism is not to reverse it and practice it against males, but rather basic fairness.
Their patriarchy and chauvinism,” she says, “was harder on Iraqi culture than Iraqis themselves.
Historical Examples of chauvinism
This chauvinism has increased to a paroxysm, bordering on insanity.
Chauvinism is nowhere more repellent than in the things of the mind.
The American Spirit in Literature,Bliss Perry
But democracy in Japan does not mean a diminution of Chauvinism in foreign policy.
The Problem of ChinaBertrand Russell
In a specially marked manner the pan-Serb chauvinism showed itself during the Bosnian crisis.
Why We Are At War (2nd Edition, revised)Members of the Oxford Faculty of Modern History
The pan-Serb chauvinism appeared especially marked during the Bosnian crisis.
Why We Are At War (2nd Edition, revised)Members of the Oxford Faculty of Modern History
chauvinism
- aggressive or fanatical patriotism; jingoism
- enthusiastic devotion to a cause
- smug irrational belief in the superiority of one's own race, party, sex, etcmale chauvinism
Word Origin for chauvinism
Word Origin and History for chauvinism
1840, "exaggerated, blind patriotism," from French chauvinisme (1839), from the character Nicholas Chauvin, soldier of Napoleon's Grand Armee, notoriously attached to the Empire long after it was history, in the Cogniards' popular 1831 vaudeville "La Cocarde Tricolore."
Meaning extended to "sexism" via male chauvinism (1969). The name is a French form of Latin Calvinus and thus Calvinism and chauvinism are, etymologically, twins. The name was a common one in Napoleon's army, and if there was a real person at the base of the character in the play, he has not been certainly identified by etymologists, though memoirs of Waterloo (one published in Paris in 1822) mention "one of our principal piqueurs, named Chauvin, who had returned with Napoleon from Elba," which implies loyalty.
chauvinism
Exaggerated belief in the supremacy of one's nation, class, caste, or group. Chauvinism usually involves xenophobia.