Word.ws English Dictionary

racebending

racebending noun: the act of playing the role of, or casting someone in the role of, a character of different race or ethnicity. Also the present participle and gerund of racebend.

Noun

racebending (uncountable)

  1. (derogatory, often, slang) The act of playing the role of, or casting someone in the role of, a character of different race or ethnicity.
    • Hilarity ensues as the director tries to justify his decision with famous racebending examples from Hollywood (The faux slit-eyes in Cloud Atlas, anyone?).2013, Lee Jian Yun, "Asian Americans on the Rise: How YouTube Changed the Game", The Monash Gazette (Monash Ununiversity), Issue #2 2013, page 71
    • Not only did the producers cast actors in their late twenties but also had the audacity to assign Michael B. Jordan (Fruitside Station, That Awkward Moment) to the role of the Human Torch/Johnny Storm.
      What has happened here is a wonderful example of racebending.2014, Zhana Johnnson, "Bend It Like Jordan", The Xavierite (Saint Xavier University), Volume 83, Number 17, 26 February 2014, page 9

Also used as

racebending is also the present participle and gerund of racebend.

Forms of racebending

alternative formrace-bending

Origin of racebending

From race + bending, following the pattern of genderbending. Popularized, and likely influenced in form by, fan reaction to racebending in the casting of the 2010 film The Last Airbender (film).

Questions about racebending

What does racebending mean?
Racebending means the act of playing the role of, or casting someone in the role of, a character of different race or ethnicity.
What part of speech is racebending?
Racebending is a noun.

Words near racebending in the dictionary

  1. race-wars
  2. raceable
  3. raceabout
  4. raceabouts
  5. racebend
  6. racebending
  7. racebends
  8. racebent
  9. racebike
  10. racebikes
  11. raceblind

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: racebending (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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Cite this entry: “racebending.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/racebending. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.