ethnic cleansing
nounEtymology Possibly a calque of Serbo-Croatian etničko čišćenje, though this is probably attested later. Popularized by (and still often associated with) the wars in former Yugoslavia during the 1990s; however, versions of the phrase have been attested since the 1860s in various languages (with the earliest attestation translating directly to the phrase being Romanian purificare etnică from 1941) and it probably arose independently on numerous occasions.
1
Euphemistic The mass expulsion or killing of people belonging to one ethnic group by those of another.
- These television stations are part of the apparatus and power of Milosevic. This is the apparatus he has used to do the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.1999 April 24, Martin Kettle, Alex Brummer, quoting Tony Blair, “The bombing goes on”, in The Guardian:
- That’s not because imperialism cares about the fate of Palestine, to which it’s entirely indifferent, but because Israeli aggression and ethnic cleansing, to say nothing of genocide, is a permanent cause of explosive popular anger in the region and increasingly, internationally.2026 May 23, David Finkel, “Middle East War Expands: A Spreading Global Disaster”, in Against the Current, volume 41, number 2, via EBSCOhost, →ISSN, page 6:
- Derived terms
- ethnically cleanse
- Related terms
- genocide, holocaust, Holocaust, mass murder, religious cleansing