Balkanize
kəˌnaɪz verb (used with object), Bal·kan·ized, Bal·kan·iz·ing.
1.
to divide (a country, territory, etc.) into small, quarrelsome, ineffectual states.
2.
( often lowercase ) to divide (groups, areas, etc.) into contending and usually ineffectual factions: a movement to balkanize minority voters.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To balkanize
Collins
World English Dictionary
Balkanize or Balkanise (ˈbɔːlkəˌnaɪz) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb | |
| 1. | (tr) to divide (a territory) into small warring states |
| 2. | to divide (a group or organization) into small factions |
| Balkanise or Balkanise | |
| —vb | |
| Balkani'zation or Balkanise | |
| —n | |
| Balkani'sation or Balkanise | |
| —n | |
| 'Balkanized or Balkanise | |
| —adj | |
| 'Balkanised or Balkanise | |
| —adj | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
00:10
Balkanize
is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
Balkanize
1920, first used in reference to the Baltic states, on the model of what had happened in the Balkans; said to have been coined by Eng. editor James Louis Garvin (1868-1947), but A.J. Toynbee (1922) credited it to "German Socialists" describing the results of the treaty of
Brest-Litovsk. Either way, the reference is to the political situation in the Balkans c.1878-1913, when the European section of the Ottoman Empire split up into small, warring nations. Balkanized and Balkanization both also are from 1920.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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