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# ethnic cleansing

phrase (noun phrase: ethnic cleansing; uncountable)

«ethnic cleansing» in the English dictionary: in the primary school — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## In the primary school

Source: Mova's pupils' dictionary. Licence: [Elamur Cosmic License](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/LICENSE/). Reviewed: the dictionary the pupils of Mova's primary school read; its examples quote the lessons and public-domain tales. Ships with Mova.

### Meaning

1. (euphemism, very serious) driving a whole group of people out of an area, by force and terror, because of their ethnic group, religion or nation; it often includes killing.
2. (in law and history) a recognised kind of crime against humanity; it can be part of genocide.

### In the lessons

First used by the people doing it to make mass expulsion and murder sound like «cleaning»; now used by reporters, historians and courts as a name for the crime, often with horror. Serious, formal, worldwide. In history lessons it names terrible events; it is never a joke and never something good.

### Examples

- The United Nations condemned the ethnic cleansing of the villages.
- Thousands of families fled to escape ethnic cleansing.
- Historians study how ethnic cleansing was planned and hidden.
- The court found the leaders guilty of crimes including ethnic cleansing.
- Our history teacher explained that ethnic cleansing is a cruel euphemism for driving people out or killing them.
- The reporter refused to call it a population transfer and said plainly it was ethnic cleansing.
- Survivors of ethnic cleansing told their stories at the museum.
- Aid workers warned that ethnic cleansing was taking place in the region.

### Note

Trap: «cleansing» sounds clean and good, but the phrase names mass violence; the soft word was chosen by the attackers to hide what they did. Never use it lightly or as a joke. It is close to «genocide» but not always the same: ethnic cleansing is about removing a group from a place; genocide is about destroying the group.