ethnically cleansing

Verb

ethnically cleanse (third-person singular simple present ethnically cleanses, present participle ethnically cleansing, simple past and past participle ethnically cleansed)

1. (euphemistic, transitive) To deliberately and systematically remove an ethnic, racial, or religious group from a specific area, typically through violence.
   • This is utterly absurd because the impression arises that the harder someone fights, slaughters, and "ethnically cleanses" the civilian population, the more respectfully his demands must be met.1994, United States, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report, East Europe, numbers 136-146, page 7