ETHNIC CLEANSING Definition & Meaning

ethnic cleansing

noun

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

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

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 .)

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of ethnic cleansing¹

First recorded in 1985–90

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Compare Meanings

How does ethnic cleansing compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“The rhetoric and the practice of the Egyptian government when it comes to the war — the ethnic cleansing, the genocide — are of course very distant from their practices.”

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More than one million Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority community that the United Nations calls victims of ethnic cleansing, fled violent purges in their home country, neighbouring Myanmar.

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With his target in sight, Bong spends two hours taking swipes at Trump, ethnic cleansing, the elite’s response to airborne pathogens, human commodification and white people’s disgusting obsession with putrid sauces.

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A wave of international criticism met the comments - including from France, Germany and the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who has warned the US against ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

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The UN has warned that any forced displacement of the territory's population would be illegal under international law and "tantamount to ethnic cleansing".

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