Bigotry Meaning
/ˈbɪɡ.ə.tɹi/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe condition or the characteristic quality of a bigot, especially religious, anti-religious or racial intolerant prejudice; opinionatedness; fanaticism; fanatic intolerance.
nounObstinate prejudice or opinionatedness.
Sentence Examples
Bigotry is often invisible to those who are not on the receiving end of it.
We don't tolerate bigotry.
It feels like Islamophobia is an acceptable form of bigotry.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mayor condemned the ____ shown by those who refused to rent to immigrants.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The organization works hard to end ____ and promote human equality.
Word Origin & History
From French bigoterie, from bigot. By surface analysis, bigot + -ry.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The remarkable resilience of the Ku Klux Klan is a sad reminder of the persistence of racial and religious bigotry in the United States. No terrorist organization can match the Klan's mystique or long history, and few can match its success."
— 1979, Ted Robert Gurr, Violence in America: Protest, Rebellion, Reform, page 131:
"For boys like Battuta, white women — never mind fat, Jewish, non-deferential white women — were for fucking and throwing over. What one hates in whites — love of brown sugar — one must also hate when it turns up, inverted, in black. Bigotry is not only a function of power."
— 1988, Salman Rushdie, chapter V, in The Satanic Verses, page 272:
"Strains of anti-Semitism have long festered on the American right. But in the second half of the 20th century, leaders of the Republican Party and the intellectual guardians of the conservative movement attempted to keep bigotry out of the mainstream."
— 2025 December 23, Franklin Foer, “J. D. Vance Fails a Simple Moral Test”, in The Atlantic:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mayor condemned the ____ shown by those who refused to rent to immigrants.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The organization works hard to end ____ and promote human equality.