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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of racial Last August, the mosque was targeted twice overnight with eggs thrown at the building and people have shouted curse words and racial slurs when passing by, the manager said. Laura Sharman, CNN Money, 5 Oct. 2025 What to do with the paranoid racial reading? Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 5 Oct. 2025 Trump sent federal officers to Portland over the objections of local and state leaders in 2020 during long-running racial justice protests following George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police. Jason Ma, Fortune, 5 Oct. 2025 Republicans responded by leaning into their ideal image as the masculine party, with appeal that cut across racial barriers. David Weigel, semafor.com, 3 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for racial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for racial
Adjective
  • The skull wears a satroka bucket hat, worn by Madagascar's Betsileo ethnic group.
    Kate Bartlett, NPR, 5 Oct. 2025
  • California’s racial and ethnic makeup is expected to shift in the coming decades.
    Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 3 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • 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
  • 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

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Cite this Entry

“Racial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racial. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

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