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

Both sides have denied committing war crimes, but Amnesty International last week said the RSF carried out ethnic cleansing and other atrocities in the city of el-Fasher. — Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 7 July 2026

Others are children of families who were displaced by ethnic cleansing. — Arminka Helic, Time, 30 June 2026

The report is the latest from the world body, which last year accused Israel of committing genocide, using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza and of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank — allegations that Israel strenuously denies. — Sam Metz, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2026

Jewish trauma does not erase Palestinian dispossession and ethnic cleansing. — Nicole Erin Morse, Baltimore Sun, 9 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1991, in the meaning defined above