Meaning & use
Balkanize
Last updated
To divide a region, organization, or group into smaller, often hostile or uncooperative, units.
See it in a sentence
Critics warned that the policy would balkanize the country along ethnic lines.
The company's departments have become balkanized, each pursuing its own agenda.
A note on using this word
Derives from the fragmentation of the Balkan Peninsula into smaller states in the early 20th century; now used generically, usually lowercase.
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