ethnically cleanse

present singular third person ethnically cleanses · participle present ethnically cleansing · participle past ethnically cleansed · past ethnically cleansed

1. euphemistictransitiveTo deliberately and systematically remove an ethnic, racial, or religious group from a specific area, typically through violence.

   He is pursuing his racist policy of ethnically cleansing the African peoples from Blue Nile state and the Nuba Mountains in Southern Kordofan.

   2013, Great Britain, Parliament, House of Lords, The Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), House of Lords official report, Volume 745, page 451

   2 more examples

   This is utterly absurd because the impression arises that the harder someone fights, slaughters, and "ethnically cleanses" the civilian population, the more respectfully his demands must be met.

   1994, United States, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report, East Europe, numbers 136-146, page 7

   After the Muslims or Croats capitulated, the special forces, the "dreaded paramilitary groups," entered the town and "ethnically cleansed" it of Croats or Muslims.

   1999, Howard Ball, Prosecuting War Crimes and Genocide, The Twentieth-century Experience, page 128