xenophobia

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

an intense, irrational fear, dislike, or hostility directed toward people perceived as foreign, alien, or from outside one's own national, ethnic, or cultural community, encompassing both individual prejudice and systemic discrimination against migrants, refugees, and ethnic minorities; the word derives from the Greek xenos (stranger) and phobos (fear); xenophobia can manifest as discriminatory employment and housing practices, verbal or physical violence, political rhetoric that scapegoats migrants for social problems, and policy frameworks that systematically disadvantage non-citizens; distinct from racism in that it targets foreignness rather than race (though the two often overlap in practice), xenophobia is identified by the UN and human rights organisations as a major obstacle to the integration of migrants and to the protection of refugee rights in host countries