definitions

ethnic cleansing

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ethnic cleansing ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

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RELATED WORDS

genocide, holocaust, pogrom

Nearby words

ethmoiditis, ethmoturbinal, ethnarch, ethnarchy, ethnic, ethnic cleansing, ethnic minority, ethnical, ethnically, ethnicity, ethno-

Origin of ethnic cleansing

First recorded in 1985–90
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for ethnic cleansing

ethnic cleansing

noun

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
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Culture definitions for ethnic cleansing

ethnic cleansing

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.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.