xenophobia

noun xe·no·pho·bia \ ˌze-nə-ˈfō-bē-ə , ˌzē- \

|Updated on: 18 Jul 2018

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

: fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign

See xenophobia defined for English-language learners

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Recent Examples of xenophobia from the Web

The deepest stains identified in the Slater case by Conan Doyle were not of blood, but the darker tones of anti-Semitism and xenophobia.

— The Economist, "When Arthur Conan Doyle cried “J’Accuse…!”," 7 July 2018
The promotion of xenophobia and the reckless abuse of children, cloaked by the veneer of a warped pseudo-biblical patriotism, makes a mockery of both American and Judeo-Christian values.

— rabbi asher knight - special to the observer editorial board, charlotteobserver, "Republicans are abusing religion to defend their abuse of children," 19 June 2018
There are, of course, both policy and flesh-and-blood implications for normalizing xenophobia and denying that white supremacism exists.

— mari uyehara, GQ, "How Free Speech Warriors Mainstreamed White Supremacists," 8 May 2018
The arguments about preserving culture from immigration are just xenophobia.

— NBC News, "Far-right mayor hails success of Hungary-Serbia border fence," 2 May 2018
His rhetoric has shocked many Italians, drawing accusations of xenophobia.

— giovanni legorano, WSJ, "Italy’s Salvini Puts Roadblocks in Migrants’ Way While Reaching Out to Fellow European Populists," 27 June 2018
The history of our love/fear relationship with MSG is wrought with bad science and more than a dash of xenophobia.

— yvette d'entremont, SELF, "We All Really Need to Stop Freaking Out About MSG," 20 June 2018
After all, there are many strategies to build a political coalition, so the choice of xenophobia isn’t driven purely by electoral calculations.

— jeet heer, The New Republic, "Xenophobia, rather than polling numbers, may best explain this immigration policy.," 19 June 2018
Shakespeare’s powerful tale of xenophobia is placed in a contemporary setting meant to add a layer to the story of an intelligent, charming leader brought down by jealousy and lies.

— terry byrne, BostonGlobe.com, "Paulus’s 10th season to include a revue of ART’s greatest hits," 21 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'xenophobia.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

If you look back to the ancient Greek terms that underlie the word xenophobia, you'll discover that xenophobic individuals are literally "stranger fearing." Xenophobia, that elegant-sounding name for an aversion to persons unfamiliar, ultimately derives from two Greek terms: xenos, which can be translated as either "stranger" or "guest," and phobos, which means either "fear" or "flight." Phobos is the ultimate source of all English -phobia terms, but many of those were actually coined in English or New Latin using the combining form -phobia (which traces back to phobos). Xenophobia itself came to us by way of New Latin and first appeared in print in English in the late 19th century.