racial

adjective

ra·​cial ˈrā-shəl 

1

: of, relating to, or based on a race (see race entry 1 sense 1a)

a racial minority

2

: existing or occurring between races (see race entry 1 sense 1a)

racial equality

racially

ˈrā-shə-lē 

adverb

Synonyms of racial

• ethnic
• ethnical

Examples of racial in a Sentence

What is your racial identity?

There was racial tension on campus.

Recent Examples on the Web

In countries like Germany and Austria, the collection of such ethnic data remains highly taboo due to the historical misuse of ethnic and racial records during the Holocaust. — Doug Melville, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed a lawsuit against Kansas City, alleging programs that help businesses owned by women and racial minorities are discriminatory toward white people and men. — Jack Harvel, Kansas City Star, 23 July 2026

There's this near total erasure based on what the AI, just scraping Instagram, scraping faces, scraping the kind of racial hierarchies and preferences that are built into every system in our country. — Tonya Mosley, NPR, 22 July 2026

The project is part of a nationwide movement to understand how the history of racial terror shapes today. — Caitlin McGlade, Charlotte Observer, 22 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

race entry 1 + -ial

First Known Use

1853, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing racial

• post-racial

Rhymes for racial

• facial
• glacial
• spacial
• spatial
• bifacial
• biracial
• palatial
• postglacial
• preglacial
• subglacial
• craniofacial
• interfacial

Kids Definition

racial

adjective

ra·​cial ˈrā-shəl 

: of, relating to, or based on race

racially

-shə-lē 

adverb

Medical Definition

racial

adjective

ra·​cial ˈrā-shəl 

: of, relating to, or based on a race