ethnocentric

adjective

eth·no·cen·tric ˌeth-nō-ˈsen-trik

: characterized by or based on the attitude that one's own group is superior

ethnocentricity

ˌeth-nō-sen-ˈtri-sə-tē

noun

Did you know?

The Greek word ethnos means "nation" or "people". So ethnocentricity shows itself in a lack of respect for other ways of life, and an ethnocentric person feels that his or her own nation or group is the cultural center of the world. Ethnocentric describes the kind of person who behaves badly when traveling in foreign countries, often called an "Ugly American" (from a book and movie of the same name). Whenever you hear someone making fun of the way a foreigner speaks English, just remember that it's the foreigner, not the person laughing at him, who actually can speak a foreign language.

Examples of ethnocentric in a Sentence

The review was criticized for its ethnocentric bias.

Recent Examples on the Web

These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Historically, an ethnocentric drift compounded by societal privilege Political violence in the U.S. has been conflated with race, ethnicity, religion, and immigration status since the 19th century. —

Silvia Solis, The Arizona Republic, 18 July 2024 National Rally, also known by its French initialism, RN, gained supporters after its leader, Marine Le Pen, steered it away from its roots as an extreme ethnocentric party. —

Josh Feldman, NBC News, 30 June 2024 Visitors and passersby can see a big bulletin board with Indigenous people at the center and a social justice vocabulary wall in the back of the room, where kids learn terms such as cultural appropriation and ethnocentric immigrant refugee. —

Darcel Rockett, Chicago Tribune, 6 June 2024 Ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet tried to fill the Supreme Court with conservatives, rewrote school curricula in a more Zionist and ethnocentric direction, and threatened to cut state subsidies from cultural institutions that criticized the occupation. —

Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2019 See all Example Sentences for ethnocentric