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folkish

folkish

9.9
Supporting ideas that a nation or group should be kept pure, often excluding others
  • adjective
  • /ˈfoʊkɪʃ/
  • Offensive
translation icon : etnonacionalista
  • Critics argued that the group's folkish views encouraged exclusion rather than unity.

Examples

  • Some historians study how folkish ideologies influenced early twentieth-century politics.

  • The folkish movement gained popularity in the rural areas.

  • The party's folkish platform focused on preserving traditional customs and ethnic identity.

  • Is the new policy folkish in its approach?

  • The politician's folkish rhetoric appealed to many who felt their cultural identity was under threat.

  • Her views on immigration reflected a folkish stance that prioritized the interests of her own ethnic group.

  • The artist's work was criticized for its folkish themes, which some considered too exclusionary.

Synonyms

ethnocentric
vsfolkish
  • Offensive
2 8.5

Thinking one's own people or culture are better than others

expresses an organized ideology stressing purity and exclusion
ethnonational
vsfolkish
9.6

Relating to the idea that a nation should belong to one ethnic group

emphasizes purity and exclusion beyond just nation definition
nativistic
vsfolkish
9.9

Believing that traits or ideas are native and present from birth while resisting outside influence

has stronger ethnic purity and nationalist exclusion focus

How Exclusionary

racist
  • Offensive
176 5.4
folkish
  • Offensive
9.9
nativist
  • Offensive
2 9.0
patriotic
107 3.3

Surface Forms

folkish positive

Morphology

folkish = folk (semi-transparent) = folk + ish

Morphologically regular (folk + -ish), but the ideological/nationalist connotation is a pragmatic extension not directly deducible from the base.

Etymology

The word folkish also has a more political history linked to a German word völkisch meaning 'of the people'. In that use, folkish can mean an idea that stresses one group's ethnic or national 'purity' and often feels exclusionary.