Meanings
- pluralplural onlySingaporeans having birthright citizenship because they are descended from settlers in Singapore prior to independence in 1965.
In an interview published by Time magazine on Thursday, Mr Lee said the country must have a solid Singaporean core.
2015 July 23, Channel News Asia3 more examples
In his New Year’s Day Message 2013, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong highlighted the need to maintain a strong Singaporean core in the country’s population policy.
2013 December 1, Faizal Bin Yahya, National University of Singapore: Institute of Policy Studies Developing a Singaporean Core in our WorkforceEP applications for selected firms with a “weaker Singaporean core of PMEs relative to others in their industry” will be scrutinised more closely.
2015 July 8, Adrian Tan, The Middle Ground: Keeping the Singapore core of PMEs employed"And that is a very tricky balancing act to do, because you must not have so many people coming in from the outside that your own local, Singaporean core is eroded."
2015 September 18, Calvin Yang, The Straits Times (Singapore) Indranee: Building economy while keeping Singaporean core a “tricky balancing act”
Origin
Coined in the Singapore-government White Paper population policy in January 2013.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Singaporean core. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Singaporean%20core
“Singaporean core.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Singaporean%20core. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Singaporean core,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Singaporean%20core.
Source: Singaporean core on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.