balkanization
/ˌbɑl.kən.aɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.82 in modern English
28
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
5
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The fragmentation of a geopolitical region into several small states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each other.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "demographic balkanization"
- "Issues that are already hotly contested become even more divisive in the context of social balkanization."
- "In other words, will the biometric future feature biometric centralization whereby one biometric would dominate multiple applications, or will we see biometric balkanization where multiple biometrics are used for multiple applications?"
- "TV is the mass medium now, and balkanization has hit the newspaper industry."
- "Evening newscasts speak of a country on the verge of balkanization."
Etymology
From Balkan + -ization. The term is a reference to the conflicts that the Balkan peninsula experienced in the 20th century.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌbɑl.kən.aɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/
- British English: /ˌbɔːl.kən.aɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/