multiculturalism

From multicultural +‎ -ism.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌmʌltɪˈkʌltʃəɹəˌlɪz(ə)m/

• Audio (General Australian):

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multiculturalism (countable and uncountable, plural multiculturalisms)

1. The characteristics of an organization, society, city etc. which has many different ethnic or national cultures mingling freely; political or social policies which support or encourage such coexistence. [from 20th c.]

   Coordinate terms: monoculturalism (1), biculturalism (2), triculturalism (3)

   Near-synonym: polyculturalism (several or many)

   • 1984, David Malouf, A First Place, Vintage, published 2015, page 18:

     The truth is that diversity, a kind of multiculturalism if we want to call it that, is the norm in any society.

   • 1991 April 8, Barbara Ehrenreich, “Essay: Teach Diversity – with a Smile”, in Time:

     Something had to replace the threat of communism, and at last a workable substitute is at hand. "Multiculturalism," as the new menace is known, has been denounced in the media recently as the new McCarthyism, the new fundamentalism, even the new totalitarianism – take your choice.

   • 2005 August 3, David Davis MP, Daily Telegraph:

     Britain has pursued a policy of multiculturalism - allowing people of different cultures to settle without expecting them to integrate into society.

   • 2011 April 7, “On a mat and a prayer”, in The Economist:

     Earlier this year he said multiculturalism had “failed”, that immigrants needed to “melt” into French society, and that “we do not want ostentatious prayers in the street in France.”

   • 2021 January 19, Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette, “Pompeo attacks multiculturalism, saying it is ‘not who America is’”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Career diplomat Conrad Tribble said on Twitter that multiculturalism “is one of our greatest strengths as a country, and I go to that well often as an American diplomat. It’s hard to overstate the global soft power impact of America’s cultural diversity.”

2. (derogatory, right-wing) The cultural Marxism conspiracy theory.

• cosmopolitan
• culturism

Borrowed from English multiculturalism. By surface analysis, multicultural +‎ -ism.

• IPA^(key): /mul.ti.cul.tu.raˈlism/
• Rhymes: -ism
• Hyphenation: mul‧ti‧cul‧tu‧ra‧lism

multiculturalism n (uncountable)

1. multiculturalism (coexistence of several different cultures in one society)

• “multiculturalism”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025