chauvinism
Americannoun
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zealous and aggressive patriotism or blind enthusiasm for military glory.
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biased devotion to any group, attitude, or cause.
religious chauvinism.
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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
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aggressive or fanatical patriotism; jingoism
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enthusiastic devotion to a cause
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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.
Her stories are well-told, relevant and often searing, detailing an elementary-school teacher’s slight, a hometown swimming-pool reckoning and chauvinism from an Ivy League club.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026
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
Of McBride’s various creations, his most beloved have been Southerners who embody a flamboyantly American brand of male chauvinism, and Jesse Gemstone is no exception.
From New York Times • Jun. 14, 2023
It was precisely that granular aspect of Torvald’s chauvinism that Moayed wanted to explore.
From Washington Post • Mar. 17, 2023
There was an element of chauvinism in this—the French supported their own champion and rejected the ideas of the perfidious Englishman, while Newton was, of course, very much a prophet honoured in his own country.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
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.
