antisemitism
or an·ti-Sem·i·tism
discrimination against or prejudice or hostility toward Jews.
Origin of antisemitism
1usage note For antisemitism
While Semitic is a current linguistic term for a subfamily of Afroasiatic languages including Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic, Ethiopic, Hebrew, and Phoenician, the spelling anti-Semite falsely implies prejudice against all of the diverse groups of people who speak any of these languages. However, that is not how antisemite is used. Rather, the “Semite” in antisemitism is a euphemism for “Jew,” meant to lend a scientific air to the racial grouping of all Jewish peoples based on an outdated pseudoscience of race.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use antisemitism in a sentence
Is it anti-Semitism, or are less insidious cultural forces at work?
Why Was Bess Myerson the First and Last Jewish Miss America? | Emily Shire | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTWhile anti-Semitism in the United States is thankfully at all time lows, it was not always like this.
Muslims & Jews Unite vs. Abercrombie & Fitch | Dean Obeidallah | December 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWe also saw the ugly face of Anti-Semitism rise again, primarily in Europe.
Flagrant anti-Semitism fell out of favor and was replaced by a closeted, unspoken bigotry.
Superman Is Jewish: The Hebrew Roots of America's Greatest Superhero | Rich Goldstein | August 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhile American nativism and anti-Semitism declined after World War II, so did the overt Jewishness of Superman.
Superman Is Jewish: The Hebrew Roots of America's Greatest Superhero | Rich Goldstein | August 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
In Austria, as in Germany, anti-Semitism is a factor in the parliamentary elections.
Zeal for missions almost died out; the Jews became the subject of much Anti-Semitism.
Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ | Rev. A. Bernstein, B.D.The old Junker anti-Semitism received a great impulse from the collapse of thrones which followed the Armistice of 1918.
The myth of the Jewish menace in world affairs | Lucien WolfIn other nations anti-Semitism was only an instinctive and irrational popular feeling.
German Problems and Personalities | Charles SaroleaIt arose in Frankfort, the seat of unmitigated, medival anti-Semitism.
History of the Jews, Vol. V (of 6) | Heinrich Graetz
Cultural definitions for anti-Semitism
[ (an-tee-sem-uh-tiz-uhm, an-teye-sem-uh-tiz-uhm) ]
Prejudice or hatred against Jews (see also Jews), a Semitic race. (See Arab-Israeli conflict and Nazis.)
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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