Meaning & use
diaspora
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Meanings
nouncountable
The people of one homeland or culture who now live scattered in many other places around the world.
Grammar: Often preceded by the or a nationality: the Irish diaspora. Can take a singular verb even though it means many people.
Patterns
- the diaspora of a country
- a member of the diaspora
The Greek diaspora has communities on every continent.
Members of the diaspora often send money back home.
Her research looks at the Indian diaspora in East Africa.
nounsingular
The movement of a people away from their homeland to settle in many different places.
Grammar: Often used with the or a capital letter for the historic dispersal of the Jewish people.
Patterns
- the diaspora of something
War triggered a diaspora of artists from the city.
The famine caused a large diaspora in the nineteenth century.
The diaspora of scientists after the collapse left the lab empty.
Word forms
| plural | diasporas |
|---|
Common combinations
- the Jewish diaspora
- The Jewish diaspora includes communities across the globe.
- the African diaspora
- The museum explores the African diaspora through music.
- diaspora communities
- Diaspora communities keep their traditions alive abroad.
- a global diaspora
- The country has a large global diaspora.
- diaspora politics
- Diaspora politics can shape elections back home.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dispersion
- Dispersion means a scattering of anything, whereas diaspora is specifically about a people spread from a homeland.
- exodus
- Exodus focuses on the departure of a large group, while diaspora describes the scattered communities that result.
- emigrants
- Emigrants are individuals who leave a country, while diaspora includes their descendants and their shared identity.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: diaspora or disapora?
diaspora vs disapora
This is a frequent misspelling. The correct spelling is diaspora, with the s before the p.
Practice
Millions of people in the Irish ____ live in the United States, Britain and Australia.
Choose one answer.
Diaspora names the people from one homeland who live abroad. Dispersal describes the act of scattering, not the people themselves.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “diaspora”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.