as in ethnic
of, relating to, or reflecting the traits exhibited by a group of people with a common ancestry and culture
a survey that included an optional question regarding racial identity, age, and other personal information
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Recent Examples of racial
These housing communities were largely underfunded, poorly maintained and often exacerbated issues of racial and economic segregation in American cities.
—
Catherine Odom, Miami Herald, 12 June 2026
But the demonization of his killer in such stark racial terms sells a vision of America in which all of this will come to pass again — and one in which the color of the attackers’ skin will be the only evidence that matters.
—Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2026
And that prompted a kind of reckoning within the British state about policing and racial discrimination and so on.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 12 June 2026
The organization was founded in 2007 and describes its mission as fighting for criminal justice reform, racial justice and an expansion of voting rights.
—ABC News, 12 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for racial
Catherine Odom, Miami Herald, 12 June 2026
But the demonization of his killer in such stark racial terms sells a vision of America in which all of this will come to pass again — and one in which the color of the attackers’ skin will be the only evidence that matters.
—Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2026
And that prompted a kind of reckoning within the British state about policing and racial discrimination and so on.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 12 June 2026
The organization was founded in 2007 and describes its mission as fighting for criminal justice reform, racial justice and an expansion of voting rights.
—ABC News, 12 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for racial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for racial
Adjective
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By 1960, as Black voters and office-seekers continued to endure poll taxes and brutal violence in the Jim Crow South, the English-literacy test in New York affected mainly Puerto Ricans, then the city’s poorest ethnic group.—
Robert Polner,
New York Daily News,
13 June 2026
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Yes, and despite current events, Britain is a pretty successful multi-ethnic democracy.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
12 June 2026
Adjective
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Genocide is defined as attempting to partly or wholly destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.—
Ellie Cook
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
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The United Nations broadly defines genocide as seriously harming or killing members of a group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.—
Kathryn Watson,
CBS News,
12 Apr. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Racial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racial. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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