shadism

S1H4A1D2I1S1M3

noun

Prejudice on the basis of skin pigmentation.

Scrabble 13
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Meanings

nounshadism (uncountable)
  1. uncountablePrejudice on the basis of skin pigmentation.

    A safe place, to the girls, meant a place where they were able to develop a discussion on unspoken issues such as shadism, body shape, relationships, and being a Black girl without feeling the need to justify themselves.

    2017, Jennifer L. Martin, Ashley E. Nickels, Martina Sharp-Grier, Feminist Pedagogy, Practice, and Activism: Improving Lives for Girls and Women, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 237
    1 more example

    Shadism (Staples 2008), a legacy of slavery, is a form of skin tone bias that identifies groups and individuals on the basis of their degree of pigmentation. It is an evaluation of people that minutely registers traits such as skin color, hair, and […]

    2012, Ronald E. Hall, The Melanin Millennium: Skin Color as 21st Century International Discourse, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 158

Origin

From shade + -ism.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

dashism
Cite this entry
APA

shadism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shadism

MLA

“shadism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shadism. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shadism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shadism.

Source: shadism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.