regionalism
Americannoun
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Government. the principle or system of dividing a city, state, etc., into separate administrative regions.
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advocacy of such a principle or system.
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a speech form, expression, custom, or other feature peculiar to or characteristic of a particular area.
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devotion to the interests of one's own region.
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Literature. the theory or practice of emphasizing the regional characteristics of locale or setting, as by stressing local speech.
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(often initial capital letter) a style of American painting developed chiefly 1930–40 in which subject matter was derived principally from rural areas.
noun
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division of a country into administrative regions having partial autonomy
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advocacy of such division
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loyalty to one's home region; regional patriotism
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the common interests of national groups, people, etc, living in the same part of the world
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a word, custom, accent, or other characteristic associated with a specific region
Other Word Forms
- regionalist noun
- regionalistic adjective
Etymology
Origin of regionalism
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.
Ms. Allen concedes their regionalism but argues that they were wiser for understanding that a “provincial backwater offers as full a panoply of human folly, nobility, tragedy, and absurdity as any great metropolis.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026
Football, for all its unabashed ties to virulent tribalism or staunch regionalism, makes those inherent differences fairly difficult to mend.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 28, 2023
"Reject regionalism and tribalism and stop fighting among yourselves now," he said in a recorded message to the people of El Geneina.
From BBC • May 29, 2023
Conroy said the Pacific Islands Forum had brought the region together for 50 years, and it was "the heart of Pacific regionalism".
From Reuters • Jun. 28, 2022
It helped to break down global regionalism, created a more seamless global commercial network, and made it simple and almost free to move digitized labor—service jobs and knowledge work—to lower-cost countries.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
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.
