diaspora

noun

di·​as·​po·​ra dī-ˈa-sp(ə-)rə 

dē-

plural diasporas

1

often Diaspora plural Diasporas Judaism

a

: the Jews living outside Israel

… contributions made by the Diaspora to Israel's well-being …

—Idan Roll

He is currently writing a series about the multi-generational Jewish Diaspora …

—Bridget Arsenault

b

: the settling of scattered communities of Jews outside ancient Palestine after the Babylonian exile

Sephardi Jews began their diaspora into lands including North Africa and Anatolia in the late 15th century …

—Brendan Lavell

c

: the area outside ancient Palestine settled by Jews

The history of the Jewish people has been precisely a journey … out of ancient Babylon to the promised land, into the Diaspora, and then a sojourning in nearly all the lands of the world's nations …

—Sharon L. Coggan

2

or less commonly Diaspora

a

: people settled far from their ancestral homelands

members of the African diaspora

The Government said the aim of the trips is to "connect with Irish communities overseas and emphasise the importance of our Diaspora".

—Jennifer Bray

b

: the places where people settled and established communities far from their ancestral homelands

The festival features 12 films from across the Caribbean and its diasporas: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Martinique, the UK, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the Bahamas …

—Daily News (New York)

c

: the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland

the Black diaspora from the rural South to northern cities

3

: the fact or condition of being a member of a diaspora

But centuries of migration for many mean many live in diaspora, and not always—Jew or not—experiencing diaspora as exile.

—Melanie Kaye

Written from her point of view as an Arab in diaspora, [Reem] Assil takes readers on a journey through her Palestinian and Syrian roots, showing how her heritage has inspired her recipes …

—Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

diasporic

ˌdī-ə-ˈspȯr-ik 

adjective

Unlike in India where festivities are public and widespread, diasporic celebrations are more regulated to specific spaces and times.

—Rina Arya

Did you know?

The Beginnings of the Word Diaspora

Until recently diaspora was thought to be a fairly new word in English to describe a very old thing (its first, and principal, meaning relates to the settling of the Jewish people outside of Palestine after the Babylonian exile thousands of years ago). However, recent research has found that the word is quite a bit older than previously thought. It can be found as far back as 1594, in a translation of Lambert Daneau’s A Fruitfull Commentarie vpon the Twelue Small Prophets: “This scattering abrode of the Iewes, as it were an heauenly sowing, fell out after their returne from the captiuitie of Babylon … they are called Diaspora, that is, a scattering or sowing abrode.” Diaspora is descended from the Greek word diaspeirein, meaning “to scatter, spread about.”

Examples of diaspora in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The festival has become an increasingly hot destination for international delegates over the years, but in 2024, Ude noticed an uptick in the number of attendees coming from the African diaspora. —Diana Lodderhose, Deadline, 14 May 2025

The Yale course intends to use the album to study the Puerto Rican diaspora, Caribbean politics and culture, colonialism and musical genres that Bad Bunny has experimented with, such as salsa, bomba and plena. —Shannon Doyne, New York Times, 12 May 2025

Her pieces are often inspired by the African diaspora and nature with all the raw materials being traceable. —Hikmat Mohammed, Footwear News, 6 May 2025

The exhibit uses fashion, accessories, art and more to explore the multicultural blend of African and European styles during the Atlantic diaspora − the mass uprooting of African communities as a result of the slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries. —Ralphie Aversa, USA Today, 6 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Greek, dispersion, from diaspeirein to scatter, from dia- + speirein to sow

First Known Use

1594, in the meaning defined at sense 1b