1865–70; < French chauvinisme, equivalent to chauvin jingo (named after N. Chauvin, a soldier in Napoleon's army noted for loud-mouthed patriotism) + -isme -ism
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
- Love of country is mixed with a sometimes venomous ethnic chauvinism.
- Mentor particularly invites correspondence about age discrimination and age chauvinism in academe.
- Though grounds for hope do exist, it is not yet clear whether they are strong enough to offset the forces of fear and chauvinism.
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chauvinism
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chauvinism definition
Exaggerated belief in the supremacy of one's nation, class, caste, or group. Chauvinism usually involves xenophobia.
Note: The word chauvinism is often used as shorthand for “male chauvinism,” a term describing the attitudes of men who believe that women are inferior and should not be given equal status with men. (See also feminism.)
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chauvinism
excessive and unreasonable patriotism, similar to jingoism. The word is derived from the name of Nicolas Chauvin, a French soldier who, satisfied with the reward of military honours and a small pension, retained a simpleminded devotion to Napoleon. Chauvin came to typify the cult of the glorification of all things military that was popular after 1815 among the veterans of Napoleon's armies. Later, chauvinism came to mean any kind of ultranationalism and was used generally to connote an undue partiality or attachment to a group or place to which one belongs. The term chauvinism also may describe an attitude of superiority toward members of the opposite sex, as in male chauvinism. Some animal-rights advocates have used the term to indicate a similar attitude on the part of human beings toward other species, as in "species chauvinism."
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