What does "refoulement" mean?
The involuntary sending of refugees or asylum seekers to their country of origin or another one, where they are likely to face persecution and harm.
Refoulement
/ɹəˈfuːlmɒ̃/ noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The involuntary sending of refugees or asylum seekers to their country of origin or another one, where they are likely to face persecution and harm.
- Grammar: refoulement is listed as noun.
- Usage evidence: He also expressed concern that at the same time there could be cases of refoulement with asylum seekers being returned to their countries of origin, where they are at risk of persecution and in an apparent breach of international law.
How to use "refoulement"
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- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "refoulement" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
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Meaning check
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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 "refoulement" in a final draft.
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
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Check whether "refoulement" 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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Final meaning check
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 The involuntary sending of refugees or asylum seekers to their country of origin or another one, where they are likely to face persecution and harm. uncountable
"He also expressed concern that at the same time there could be cases of refoulement with asylum seekers being returned to their countries of origin, where they are at risk of persecution and in an apparent breach of international law."
- 2 An instance thereof. countable
- 3 The forced relocation of a group of people. archaic, uncountable
- 4 An instance of that relocation. archaic, countable
Example
"He also expressed concern that at the same time there could be cases of refoulement with asylum seekers being returned to their countries of origin, where they are at risk of persecution and in an apparent breach of international law."
Common questions
How do you use "refoulement" in a sentence?
He also expressed concern that at the same time there could be cases of refoulement with asylum seekers being returned to their countries of origin, where they are at risk of persecution and in an apparent breach of international law.
How do you pronounce "refoulement"?
Pronounced /ɹəˈfuːlmɒ̃/.
Etymology
Borrowed from French refoulement (“act of pushing something back (as gunpowder into a gun barrel, or water by a dam); act of water overflowing; forced relocation of a group of people; forced repatriation of asylum-seekers or refugees”), from refouler (“to cause to flow or turn back; to repress, suppress; to repulse; to trample on again”) (from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + fouler (“to impress, stamp; to trample, walk on; to mistreat, oppress”) (ultimately from Medieval Latin fullare (“to make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing, to full”), from Latin fullō (“one who fulls cloth, fuller”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to blow; to inflate, swell”)) + -ment (suffix forming nouns from verbs, usually denoting resulting actions or states).