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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The result: The obstacles to the far right’s blueprint for conquest and ethnic cleansing have been removed, and its agenda has effectively become Netanyahu’s policy. Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 7 Aug. 2025 Add to that an improved understanding of the immigrant tribes — Cherokee, Alabama, Coushatta, Delaware, Seminole, Kickapoo and others — who surged into Texas after brutal ethnic cleansing in the eastern United States during the early 19th century. Michael Barnes, Austin American Statesman, 30 July 2025 Keeping quiet would be to promote the genocide or ethnic cleansing in Nigeria. Paul Tilsley, FOXNews.com, 10 June 2025 Beginning around 2007, the United States offered shelter to tens of thousands of mostly Nepali-speaking, Bhutanese Hindus who had fled ethnic cleansing in the kingdom of Bhutan, which is predominantly Buddhist. Kurt Streeter, New York Times, 1 May 2025 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

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Ethnic cleansing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethnic%20cleansing. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on ethnic cleansing

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!