What does "miscegenation" mean?
The mixing or blending of race in marriage or breeding, interracial marriage.
Miscegenation
/mɪˌsɛd͡ʒ.əˈneɪ.ʃən/ noun
noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The mixing or blending of race in marriage or breeding, interracial marriage.
- Grammar: miscegenation is listed as noun.
- Nearest alternatives: a world-without-end bargain, alliance, anti interracial marriage legislation, anti miscegenation law.
- Useful contrasts: endogamy, marriage equality, neutral descriptor.
- Usage evidence: Generations of Americans were taught to fear—miscegenation, "the yellow peril," Italians, communism.
How to use "miscegenation"
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- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "miscegenation" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "miscegenation" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "miscegenation" is acting as noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
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3. Confirm with context
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Final meaning check
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When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The mixing or blending of race in marriage or breeding, interracial marriage. US, countable, uncountable
"Anissimov took to posting paranoid white supremacist rants on Twitter. Why, he asked, do “blacks get your own continent”? “European whites are being replaced and destroyed by ‘diversity,’” he cried. He denounced miscegenation and declared that women should be confined to the home."
- 2 reproduction by parents of different races (especially by white and non-white persons) wordnet
- 3 A mixing or blending, especially one which is considered to be inappropriate. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"as is clear in the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, it has a horror of any spiritual miscegenation between the human and the natural."
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Generations of Americans were taught to fear—miscegenation, "the yellow peril," Italians, communism."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "miscegenation"?
Common synonyms include: a world-without-end bargain, alliance, anti interracial marriage legislation, anti miscegenation law, bed, bond of matrimony.
How do you use "miscegenation" in a sentence?
Generations of Americans were taught to fear—miscegenation, "the yellow peril," Italians, communism.
How do you pronounce "miscegenation"?
Pronounced /mɪˌsɛd͡ʒ.əˈneɪ.ʃən/.
Etymology
Blend of Latin miscēre (“mix”) + Latin genus (“race”) + -ation. Coined by American journalist David Goodman Croly in 1864 and first used in an anonymous pamphlet he coauthored, which claimed to be written by a person who believed in the inherent unity of all racial groups, that marriage between blacks and whites would create a better race, and that the American Civil War was a fight for the latter idea. Later, it was exposed that the pretext of the pamphlet was false and that it had actually been written by a group which hoped to inflame anger, particularly against then-US President Abraham Lincoln who was up for reelection. Replaced previous amalgamation, from metallurgy.