peoplehood
noun
peo·ple·hood
ˈpē-pəl-ˌhu̇d 
1
: the quality or state of constituting a people
2
: the awareness of the underlying unity that makes the individual a part of a people
Examples of peoplehood in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Through addiction, recovery, infertility, and, urgently, a search for both selfhood and peoplehood, and towards home.
—
Eliana Ramage
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
The pogroms against Jews in Eastern Europe and other developments, including the 1967 War, moved Reform Jews to strongly emphasize the need to defend Israel as essential to Jewish peoplehood and self-determination.
—Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2023
By the time Zelensky came of age, three or four generations of Soviet Jews had experienced their Jewish identity as a hollow thing, nothing but a black mark on a passport and a sense of peoplehood born of exclusion and a second-class status.
—Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2022
There are five main injuries of slavery that still affect the Black community today including peoplehood and nationhood; education; health; criminal punishment; and wealth and poverty, according to NCOBRA.
—Maya Brown, CNN, 26 Feb. 2022
Others, including many anti-Zionists, refuse to recognize Judaism’s peoplehood dimension altogether, saying Jews should be regarded strictly as members of a religion.
—Cnaan Liphshiz, sun-sentinel.com, 3 Mar. 2021
Secular American Jews, however, have always walked a fine line in their sense of peoplehood.
—Ethan Bronner, The New York Review of Books, 12 Mar. 2020
Yet the connection of Jews to their countries, peoplehood and a distinct land predates the era of rights.
—WSJ, 11 May 2018
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Eliana Ramage
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
The pogroms against Jews in Eastern Europe and other developments, including the 1967 War, moved Reform Jews to strongly emphasize the need to defend Israel as essential to Jewish peoplehood and self-determination.
—Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2023
By the time Zelensky came of age, three or four generations of Soviet Jews had experienced their Jewish identity as a hollow thing, nothing but a black mark on a passport and a sense of peoplehood born of exclusion and a second-class status.
—Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2022
There are five main injuries of slavery that still affect the Black community today including peoplehood and nationhood; education; health; criminal punishment; and wealth and poverty, according to NCOBRA.
—Maya Brown, CNN, 26 Feb. 2022
Others, including many anti-Zionists, refuse to recognize Judaism’s peoplehood dimension altogether, saying Jews should be regarded strictly as members of a religion.
—Cnaan Liphshiz, sun-sentinel.com, 3 Mar. 2021
Secular American Jews, however, have always walked a fine line in their sense of peoplehood.
—Ethan Bronner, The New York Review of Books, 12 Mar. 2020
Yet the connection of Jews to their countries, peoplehood and a distinct land predates the era of rights.
—WSJ, 11 May 2018
Cite this Entry
“Peoplehood.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peoplehood. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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