racial tension
- noun
- /ˈreɪʃəl ˈtɛnʃən/
- The shooting of Michael Brown in August 2014 highlighted racial tensions in Ferguson, Mo., and students demonstrated on campuses in nearby St. Louis.
There were are no racial tensions in armed forces.
- There were are no racial tensions in armed forces.
- How are we going to solve racial tension?
- But it has had a kind of a a very quiet drum beat of racial tension for a long time.
- And there's big racial tensions in jails, Asians, blacks, whites as well.
- When you reflect on the protests, on the racial tensions over the death of George Floyd, how do you make sense of it all?
Examples
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South Africa has recently witnessed considerable racial tension through social media.
Academic text (2018) -
The ongoing protests were a clear sign of the rising racial tension in the community.
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So there is already a kind of racial tension that is a very significant feature of the novel.
Fiction book (2002) -
From this point of view, any increase in racial tension on college campuses is a sign of hope.
Academic text (1991) -
We acknowledge that racial tension at educational institutions is not a new phenomenon.
Academic text (2009) -
When you reflect on the protests, on the racial tensions over the death of George Floyd, how do you make sense of it all?
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Examinations like this one are unlikely to ease racial tension.
Academic text (1993) -
I would argue that racial tensions have strengthened since the election of Barack Obama.
Blog text (7) -
The first is to confront racial tensions, misunderstandings, and fears of residents living side by side but separately.
Academic text (1995) -
The canneries partly succeeded in their financial bid by continually stoking the racial tensions between the White and Japanese fishermen, diverting attention from their drive for profit.
Academic text (2016)
Synonyms
Tension between people or groups that causes disagreement
A problem caused by conflict between people of different races in a community
Antonyms
How Tense
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a state of hostility or strained relations between people of different races' is directly composed from 'racial' (relating to race) and 'tension' (strain or hostility). This adjective+noun structure is conventional and cross‑linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Racial tension creates a clear picture: groups of different races pull in opposite directions like a rope that is pulled so tight it may snap. The word racial shows who is involved and tension is the tight pull, so the phrase means 'hostility' or 'strained relations' between races.