xenophobia

noun

xe·​no·​pho·​bia ˌze-nə-ˈfō-bē-ə  ˌzē- 

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

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. Xenophobia itself came to us by way of New Latin and first appeared in print in English in the late 19th century.

Examples of xenophobia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In South Africa, which goes to the polls next month, online xenophobia has manifested into real-life violence targeting migrant workers, asylum seekers, and refugees—something that observers say social media platforms have done little to curb. —Yasmeen Serhan, TIME, 16 Apr. 2024

Still, Perego lands other meaningful points about the rampant xenophobia that fuels the immigration discourse. —Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 12 Apr. 2024

Dicing words is no longer necessary in today’s xenophobia parade. —Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2024

The novel’s protagonist, a 12-year-old boy named Bird, is a curious child navigating a futuristic society in which information is highly controlled and xenophobia abounds. —By Various Book Reviewers, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Feb. 2024

And third, that thinly veiled anti-Chinese xenophobia has become a reliable part of the US political playbook. —Dexter Thomas, WIRED, 1 Feb. 2024

In Chile, concern over immigration and outright xenophobia against Venezuelans helped the far-right there rise in influence. —Lautaro Grinspan, NBC News, 19 Jan. 2024

Fluent in Russian and well educated, these middle-class Tajiks tend to face fewer instances of xenophobia. —Valerie Hopkins, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2024

But the company also wielded accusations of xenophobia against good-faith skeptics who simply wanted to know how an app owned by a Chinese tech conglomerate could be free of Chinese influence, given Beijing’s track record of meddling with its tech companies. —Kevin Roose, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

New Latin

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

xenophobia

noun

xe·​no·​pho·​bia ˌzen-ə-ˈfō-bē-ə 

ˌzēn-

: fear of foreigners or foreign things

Etymology

from Greek xeno- "strange, foreign" (from xenos "foreigner") and English phobia "an exaggerated fear"

Medical Definition

xenophobia

noun

xe·​no·​pho·​bia ˌzen-ə-ˈfō-bē-ə  ˌzēn- 

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