Word of the Day

: August 3, 2014

balkanize

verb BAWL-kuh-nyze

What It Means

1 : to break up (as a region or group) into smaller and often hostile units

2 : divide, compartmentalize

balkanize in Context

"Even if Richards wanted to balkanize his life into personal and professional spheres, he would have had difficulty, for his private life resounds with his public concerns, often in disturbing ways." - Samuel G. Freedman, New York Times Magazine, November 22, 1987

"And such are the gifts of diplomatic nicety still being bestowed upon Russian President Vladimir Putin that the United States continues to treat him as a recalcitrant child at reform school rather than as a lying authoritarian who still seeks to partition or balkanize Ukraine." - Michael Weiss, The Daily Beast, June 19, 2014

Did You Know?

The Balkan Peninsula of southeastern Europe is named for the Balkan Mountains, which stretch through Bulgaria from its western border with Serbia to the Black Sea. ("Balkan" derives from a Turkish word that means "mountain.") The region known as the Balkans is commonly thought to include Albania, Greece, Romania, the European portion of Turkey, and often surrounding areas. The decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century led to a series of revolts that accelerated the fracturing of the region into a number of smaller states whose unstable coexistence led to violence that came to a head in World War I. Since 1919, "balkanize" and its related noun, "balkanization" have come to refer to the kind of divisive action that can weaken countries or groups, as well as other things.