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orientalism.

The tendency to represent eastern subjects, to assume stylistical characteristics original of the East, especially in 19th century Europe.

11 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun
  1. The tendency to represent eastern subjects, to assume stylistical characteristics original of the East, especially in 19th century Europe.

    countable · uncountable
  2. An Eastern word, expression, or custom.

    countable
  3. A patronizing Western attitude towards Middle Eastern, Asian, and North African societies.

    capitalized · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From French orientalisme, from oriental (“eastern, Oriental”). In the sense “patronizing Western attitude” popularized by Edward Said's 1978 book Orientalism. Equivalent to Oriental + -ism.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.