What does "balkanize" mean?

To break up into small, mutually-hostile units, especially on a political basis.

What is a synonym for "balkanize"?

Common synonyms include: balkanise.

verb

verb ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To break up into small, mutually-hostile units, especially on a political basis. transitive
"The Pentagon and the CIA were being Balkanized, partially dismantled, and a Congressional investigation had focused on Screaming Fist."
2
Alternative letter-case form of Balkanize. alt-of
"And while political analysts and government officials in the region say the spreading Sunni disillusionment with Shiites and their backers in Iran will benefit Sunni-led governments and the United States, they and others worry that the tensions could start to balkanize the region as they have in Iraq itself."
3
divide a territory into small, hostile states wordnet

"The Pentagon and the CIA were being Balkanized, partially dismantled, and a Congressional investigation had focused on Screaming Fist."

From Balkan + -ize.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.