ecological terrorism
- noun
- /ˌiːkəˈlɒdʒɪkəl ˈtɛrɪrɪzəm/
- Offensive
- The group was accused of ecological terrorism after setting fire to construction equipment in protest.
Examples
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Some activists reject the label of ecological terrorism for their direct actions against polluters.
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Authorities are taking new measures to combat ecological terrorism targeting logging operations.
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This is ecological terrorism!
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The activists were accused of ecological terrorism after the attack.
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The activists were accused of committing ecological terrorism when they sabotaged the oil pipeline.
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In response to the government's inaction on climate change, some groups threaten to resort to ecological terrorism to make their point.
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The documentary explored various incidents labeled as ecological terrorism, highlighting the extreme measures taken by some environmentalists.
Synonyms
An act using violence or threats to protect nature
Violent attacks to help environmental activists reach political goals
Planned actions that harm nature to achieve political goals
How Violent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward modifier + noun composition: 'ecological' specifies the environmental domain and 'terrorism' denotes the use of violence for political ends, so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to violent acts motivated by environmental aims. This compositional pattern follows normal English noun phrase formation and is cross-linguistically transparent, making it readily understandable to a B1 learner familiar with the constituents.
Etymology
Ecological terrorism mixes ecological (about nature) and terrorism (violent acts meant 'to scare' people). The strong image is people using violence to stop harm to nature, so the phrase now means 'using or threatening violence to reach environmental goals'.