desegregation
desegregation Lexical Profile
desegregation Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The legal or social process of ending the separation of different racial, ethnic, or social groups in public institutions, schools, housing, and facilities.
"The landmark Supreme Court ruling mandated the immediate desegregation of public schools across the country."
Word Nuance & Usage
While often used interchangeably with 'integration', 'desegregation' specifically refers to the legal or administrative removal of barriers separating racial or social groups, whereas 'integration' implies the active social and cultural unification of those groups into a cohesive community.
• Rhymes for desegregation
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in American English in the early 1950s during the civil rights movement, formed by adding the privative prefix de- ('reversal of') to segregation, which ultimately derives from the Latin segregare ('to separate from the flock').