Dictionary

polyethnic en · ADJ

Etymology

From poly- + ethnic.

Meanings

1. (of a group or society) That contains people who together represent multiple ethnicities, especially such that they coexist and interact harmoniously.
   • In the last 20 years, the sharp increase in immigration has brought "new faces in the crowd" and a much more polyethnic and multicultural country. 1999, Gilles Paquet, Governance Through Social Learning, page 29:
   • In some European states, however, the reverse applies and the rights of national minorities (in Belgium and Switzerland, for example) have long been recognised but an accommodation of immigrants and a more polyethnic society has been far less forthcoming. 2004, Stephen May, “Chapter 12: Accommodating Multiculturalism and Biculturalism: Implications for language policy”, in Paul Spoonley, David George Pearson, editors, Tangata Tangata: The Changing Ethnic Contours of New Zealand, page 252:
   • And thus it is a very good bet that those societies that are becoming more and more polyethnic will experience increasing ethnic conflict. In fact, it is happening already. 2015, Stephen K. Sanderson, Modern Societies: A Comparative Perspective, page 191:
2. (of a person) Who identifies as being of multiple ethnicities.

Forms

Relateds

monoethnic · ethnic · polyethnicity

Synonyms

multicultural (containing multiple ethnicities)