What does "protectionism" mean?

A system or policy of protecting the domestic producers of a product from foreign competition by imposing tariffs, quotas, duties or other barriers on importations.

What is a synonym for "protectionism"?

Common synonyms include: arrest, check, constraint, control, curb, curtailment.

How do you pronounce "protectionism"?

Pronounced //pɹəˈtɛk.ʃə.nɪ.zəm//.

Protectionism

//pɹəˈtɛk.ʃə.nɪ.zəm// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A system or policy of protecting the domestic producers of a product from foreign competition by imposing tariffs, quotas, duties or other barriers on importations. countable, uncountable
"Take the New Right's full-throated embrace of protectionism and industrial policy. This romance with protectionism started in the 1990s with former GOP presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, gained enormous traction under former President Donald Trump, and is still going strong today."
2
the policy of imposing duties or quotas on imports in order to protect home industries from overseas competition wordnet
3
Linguistic purism. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

arrest check constraint control curb curtailment

Example

More examples

"Critics are just crying wolf about protectionism."

Etymology

Borrowed from French protectionnisme, equivalent to protection + -ism.

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