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Definition of "communalism" [com•mu•nal•ism]

  • Belief in or practice of communal ownership, as of goods and property. (noun)
  • Strong devotion to the interests of one's own minority or ethnic group rather than those of society as a whole. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "communalism" in a sentence
  • "This communalism is a canker: whether practised by one colour or another it is to be strongly condemned."
  • "Charakan, a doctor, writes about how communalism is being exploited to reach political goals:"
  • ""India has always existed for humanity and not for herself", Aurobindo contended at Uttarpara, "and it is for humanity and not for herself that she must be great".26 The inversion of the humanistic aspiration in Hinduism and Islam alike to a parody called communalism is the signal achievement of our secularist historians, not of Aurobindo."