diaspora

American  

[dahy-as-per-uh, dee-] / daɪˈæs pər ə, di- /

noun

1. Usually Diaspora the scattering of the Jews to countries outside of ancient Palestine after the Babylonian captivity.

2. Often Diaspora

   1. the body of Jews living in countries outside Israel.

   2. such countries collectively.

      Passover is celebrated for seven days in Israel, but for eight days by Jews living in the Diaspora.

3. Often Diaspora any group that has been dispersed outside its traditional homeland, especially involuntarily, as Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

4. any group migration or flight from a country or region.

   Synonyms:

   scattering, displacement, migration, dissemination, dispersion

   Antonyms:

   return

5. any religious group living as a minority among people of the prevailing religion.

6. the spread or dissemination of something originally confined to a local, homogeneous group, as a language or cultural institution.

   the diaspora of English as a global language.

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Diaspora British  

/ daɪˈæspərə /

noun

1. 1. the dispersion of the Jews after the Babylonian and Roman conquests of Palestine

   2. the Jewish communities outside Israel

   3. the Jews living outside Israel

   4. the extent of Jewish settlement outside Israel

2. (in the New Testament) the body of Christians living outside Palestine

3. (often not capital) a dispersion or spreading, as of people originally belonging to one nation or having a common culture

4. the descendants of Sub-Saharan African peoples living anywhere in the Western hemisphere

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Pop Culture

—“To the Diaspora”: A 1981 poem by African American poet Gwendolyn Brooks. — Diaspora: A 1997 science fiction novel by Australian author Greg Egan.

Other Word Forms

• diasporic adjective

Etymology

Origin of diaspora

First recorded in 1690–1700; from Greek diasporá “scattering, dispersion”; dia-, spore

Explanation

A diaspora is a large group of people with a similar heritage or homeland who have since moved out to places all over the world. The term diaspora comes from an ancient Greek word meaning "to scatter about." And that's exactly what the people of a diaspora do — they scatter from their homeland to places across the globe, spreading their culture as they go. The Bible refers to the Diaspora of Jews exiled from Israel by the Babylonians. But the word is now also used more generally to describe any large migration of refugees, language, or culture.

Example Sentences

The series spans several decades, drawing inspiration from racial violence during the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, his personal relationship to Africa, people in his own community and across the African diaspora.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

Europe's top economy is home to the largest Syrian diaspora in the European Union at more than a million, many of whom arrived during the peak of the migrant influx in 2015-2016.

From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026

Although the concept of flavored yogurts has existed for millennia across the diaspora, raita is believed to have first appeared in print around the 19th century.

From Salon • Mar. 28, 2026

Ms. Joselit vividly captures Kaplan’s fervor to fulfill his self-appointed life mission to prod American Jews forward from their 19th-century diaspora ghettoes into the freedoms of 20th-century America.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

Rumors spread like a diaspora of atoms in the knackery of the universe, always getting rendered into something else and something else.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith

Related Words

• exodus