ethnic cleansing

noun

: the expulsion, imprisonment, or killing of an ethnic minority by a dominant majority in order to achieve ethnic homogeneity

Examples of ethnic cleansing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Iran and its proxies accuse Israel of conducting a campaign of mass murder, persecution and ethnic cleansing against indigenous Palestinians, charges that Israel rejects. Foreign Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2026 To be blunt, the work of ICE is the work of ethnic cleansing. Sarah Jeong, The Verge, 1 Mar. 2026 During the war, Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic ordered the ethnic cleansing of the majority Albanians in Kosovo, burning villages and forcing some 700,000 Kosovo Albanians to seek refuge in neighboring Albania, which touched off NATO intervention. Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 28 Feb. 2026 The White House has built a massive secret police force tasked with ethnic cleansing. Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 24 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for ethnic cleansing

Word History

First Known Use

1991, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of ethnic cleansing was in 1991

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Cite this Entry

“Ethnic cleansing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethnic%20cleansing. Accessed 4 Mar. 2026.

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