ethnocentrism

noun

eth·no·cen·trism ˌeth-nō-ˈsen-ˌtri-zəm

: the attitude that one's own group, ethnicity, or nationality is superior to others

Yet Brumidi was ignored, the victim of ethnocentrism and snobbery. Though he became a citizen in 1857 … American-born artists cast him as a foreigner and resented his painting Capitol murals.—

Sheryl Gay Stolberg

When it comes to programs targeted at the poor, ethnocentrism correlates with stinginess …—

Matthew Yglesias

Examples of ethnocentrism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web As Western powers barged into people’s political and psychological worlds, a plethora of ethnocentrisms gave way to Eurocentrism. —

Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2023 In response to this ethnocentrism, mainstream social sciences abandoned cultural evolution as pseudoscience for the better part of a century. —

Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 17 Nov. 2022 Oxytocin promotes human ethnocentrism. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 13 Jan. 2011 This ideology of progress amounts to a chronological form of ethnocentrism. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 16 May 2012 Only in recent years have scholars been able to confront the inadequacies (and ethnocentrism) of the ecocide theory. —

Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 12 Dec. 2022 Nativism and ethnocentrism and bigotry in high places on both sides of the Atlantic. —

Adam Shaw, Fox News, 30 Dec. 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ethnocentrism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.