pogrom
/'pɔgrəm/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: 1. An organized, often officially encouraged massacre or persecution of a particular ethnic group, especially one targeting Jewish people. - This term historically refers to violent attacks, including destruction of property, assault, and murder, directed against a specific community, with Jews being the most frequent historical target. The attacks are typically carried out with the tacit or explicit approval of authorities.
Usage
- The word is used as a countable noun to describe specific historical events or acts of mass violence.
- It is most accurately applied to describe the anti-Jewish riots in the Russian Empire and Eastern Europe, but can be used more broadly for similar organized persecutions of other minority groups.
Examples
- Noun:
- The Kishinev pogrom of 1903 resulted in the deaths of dozens of Jewish people.
- Historians study the pogroms to understand the roots of ethnic violence.
- The mob carried out a brutal pogrom against the minority community.
Advanced Usage
- "to be a victim of a pogrom": to suffer during such an organized attack.
- Her grandparents were victims of a pogrom in Eastern Europe.
- "pogrom-like violence": violence that resembles or has the characteristics of a pogrom.
- The sudden outbreak of pogrom-like violence terrified the population.
Variants and Related Words
- Pogromist (noun, rare): A person who participates in or instigates a pogrom.
- While "pogrom" is a specific historical term, related concepts include genocide (the deliberate killing of a large group of people), ethnic cleansing (the forced removal of an ethnic group from an area), and massacre (an indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people).
Synonyms
- Massacre: An indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people.
- Persecution: Hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs.
- Atrocity: An extremely wicked or cruel act, typically involving physical violence or injury.
Related Phrases and Idioms
- To unleash a pogrom: To initiate or allow such violent persecution to begin.
- The inflammatory rhetoric helped to unleash a pogrom.
- The wave of pogroms: Referring to a series of such attacks occurring in a specific period or region.
- The wave of pogroms in 1881 forced many families to flee.
Noun
- organized persecution of an ethnic group (especially Jews)