xenophobia
nounUK /ˌzɛn.əˈfəʊ.bɪ.ə/ · US /ˌziː.nəˈfoʊ.bi.ə/
Etymology From xeno- + -phobia.
1
A fear, antipathy, or hatred of strangers or foreigners.
- The great sociologist Zygmunt Bauman argued that philo-Semitism and anti-Semitism both fall under “allosemitism”: literally Othering the Jew. He defined it not as resentment of what is different, which is xenophobia, but rather of what defies order and clear categories. In 1997, he wrote, “The Jew is ambivalence incarnate. And ambivalence is ambivalence mostly because it cannot be contemplated without ambivalent feeling: it is simultaneously attractive and repelling.”2020 January 28, Mairov Zonszein, “Christian Zionist philo-Semitism is driving Trump’s Israel policy”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 30 Jan 2020:
- The United States is not the only country where xenophobia pays dividends for politicians.2021 March 19, Frida Ghitis, “The GOP’s xenophobia is fueling toxic culture of hate”, in CNN:
1 more example
- Like the Communist party before it, the Front National claimed to speak for the “working class”. The class enemy was rebranded from “bourgeoisie” to “elite”, communist xenophobia about “international capital” was supplemented with xenophobia against immigrants, and the proletariat had to ally with former adversaries such as small business owners, but the essential claim of working-class dignity remained intact.2025 September 13, Simon Kuper, “How Maga rewrote the Little Red Book”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18:
2
Literature, Media, Publishing, Science fiction Nonstandard, Rare A fear of aliens.
- Synonyms
- xenophoby
- Antonyms
- xenomania, xenophilia, xenophily, allophilia
- Derived terms
- xenophobiac, xenophobian, xenoglossophobia
- Related terms
- xenophobe, xenophobic, aporophobia, racism