Dictionary

refoulement en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ɹəˈfuːlmɒ̃/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ɹəˌfulˈmɑn/ (General-American)

Etymology

Borrowed from French refoulement (“act of pushing something back (as gunpowder into a gun barrel, or water by a dam); act of water overflowing; forced relocation of a group of people; forced repatriation of asylum-seekers or refugees”), from refouler (“to cause to flow or turn back; to repress, suppress; to repulse; to trample on again”) (from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + fouler (“to impress, stamp; to trample, walk on; to mistreat, oppress”) (ultimately from Medieval Latin fullare (“to make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing, to full”), from Latin fullō (“one who fulls cloth, fuller”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to blow; to inflate, swell”)) + -ment (suffix forming nouns from verbs, usually denoting resulting actions or states).

Meanings

1. (qualifier:international law, uncountable) The involuntary sending of refugees or asylum seekers to their country of origin or another one, where they are likely to face persecution and harm.
   • He also expressed concern that at the same time there could be cases of refoulement with asylum seekers being returned to their countries of origin, where they are at risk of persecution and in an apparent breach of international law. 2020 August 26, Gabriel Ewepu-Abuja, “AYM [Afrika Youth Movement] receives UNESCO’s Support to Create Awareness on Migration, COVID-19 in Nigeria, 7 Others”, in Vanguard, Lagos, Nigeria: Vanguard Media:
2. (countable, qualifier:international law) An instance thereof.
3. (archaic, uncountable) The forced relocation of a group of people.
4. (archaic, countable) An instance of that relocation.

Forms

Antonyms

non-refoulement · non-refoulement

Translations (9)

fr refoulement (involuntary sending) · de Zwangsabschiebung (involuntary sending) · fi pakkosiirto (forced relocation) · de Vertreibung (forced relocation) · de Ausschaffung (involuntary sending) · fi palauttaminen vaaralliselle alueelle (involuntary sending) · de Zurückweisung unter Zwang (involuntary sending) · de Zwangsumsiedlung (forced relocation) · de Zwangsdeportation (involuntary sending)