anti-semitism
/ˌæntɪˈsɛmɪˌtɪzəm/
anti-semitism is the alternative letter-case form of anti-Semitism.
Noun capitalized: anti-Semitism
anti-Semitism (countable and uncountable, plural anti-Semitisms)
- Prejudice, discrimination, hostility or political or religious opposition directed against ethnic or religious Jews or against Judaism; antijudaism; judeophobia.
- Антисемитизмом называется распространение вражды к евреям. Когда проклятая царская монархия доживала свое последнее время, она старалась натравить темных рабочих и крестьян на евреев. Царская полиция в союзе с помещиками и капиталистами устраивала еврейские погромы. Ненависть измученных нуждой...1969 [1919], Lenin, V. I., “О погромной травле евреев”, in В. И. Ленин – Полное собрание сочинений, volume 38, pages 242-243; English translation from “Anti-Jewish Pogroms”, in George Hanna, transl....
- Germany’s anti-Semitism commissioner has asked all citizens to wear the kippah in solidarity with the Jewish community, in the run-up to planned anti-Israel protests Saturday.2019 May 28, Jack Guy and Antonia Mortensen, “Germans urged to wear Jewish skullcap ahead of anti-Israel protests”, in CNN
- Synonyms:
- anti-Jewishness, anti-Jewism, anti-Judaism, antijudaism, Jew-hate, Jew-hatred, Jewhatred, Jewmania, Judeophobia
- Antonyms:
- anti-anti-Semitism, Jewmania, Judeophilia
- Prejudice, discrimination or hostility directed against any Semitic people (ancient or modern), such as Samaritans, Palestinians, Arabs or Assyrians.
- But Israel's policy of anti-semitism against Palestinians was not to the liking of India.1986, Akhileshwar Singh, Political leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, page 228
- Debate on Middle East issues is limited by what can only be seen as anti-Arab racism (itself a form of racist anti-semitism, since Arabs are semitic peoples), based on a severe lack of information.1991 April 6, Steve Rose, “A Human Drama”, in Gay Community News, page 5
Synonyms of anti-semitism
- anti-Jewishness
- anti-Jewism
- anti-Judaism
- antijudaism
- Jew-hate
- Jew-hatred
- Jewhatred
- Jewmania
- Judeophobia
- anti-Semiticism
Antonyms
- anti-anti-Semitism
- Jewmania
- Judeophilia
- philo-Semitism
- philosemitism
- pro-Semitism
- prosemitism
Forms of anti-semitism
| plural | anti-semitisms |
|---|---|
| plural | anti-Semitisms |
| alternative form | antisemitism |
| alternative form | anti-semitism |
Origin of anti-semitism
From German Antisemitismus. It is typically said that German political agitator Wilhelm Marr invented the term to replace Judenhaß (literally “Jew-hatred”) to make hatred of the Jews seem rational and sanctioned by scientific knowledge; Marr founded the Antisemitenliga ("Anti-Semites' League") in 1879, used the terms Semitismus and Antisemiten in his 1879 and 1880 pamphlets Der Sieg des Judenthums über das Germanenthum and Der Weg zum Siege des Germanenthums über das Judenthum, and used Antisemitismus at least as early as his 1885 pamphlet Lessing contra Sem. The related term antisemitisch (“anti-semitic”) was first used in 1860, by Jewish scholar Moritz Steinschneider. See Wikipedia's article on the etymology and usage of the term. The term is superficially/synchronically equivalent to anti- + Semitism (see Semite), for which reason it is rarely extended to cover prejudice against any Semitic people, or against adherents of any of the religions that originated among the Semitic peoples (the Abrahamic religions). See the usage notes.
Questions about anti-semitism
- What does anti-semitism mean?
- Anti-semitism means prejudice, discrimination, hostility or political or religious opposition directed against ethnic or religious Jews or against Judaism; antijudaism; judeophobia.
- What is anti-semitism the alternative letter-case form of?
- Anti-semitism is the alternative letter-case form of anti-Semitism.
- What part of speech is anti-semitism?
- Anti-semitism is a noun.
- How do you pronounce anti-semitism?
- Anti-semitism is pronounced /ˌæntɪˈsɛmɪˌtɪzəm/.
- What is the plural of anti-semitism?
- The plural of anti-semitism is anti-semitisms.
Words near anti-semitism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: anti-semitism (page history and authors); anti-Semitism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-anti-Semitism.ogg.
Cite this entry: “anti-semitism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/anti-semitism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.