"refoulement" meaning in English

See refoulement in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ɹəˈfuːlmɒ̃/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ɹəˌfulˈmɑn/ [General-American] Forms: refoulements [plural], refoulment [alternative]
Rhymes: (GA pronunciation) -ɒn Etymology: Borrowed from French refoulement (“act of pushing something back (as gunpowder into a gun barrel, or water by a dam); act of water overflowing; forced relocation of a group of people; forced repatriation of asylum-seekers or refugees”), from refouler (“to cause to flow or turn back; to repress, suppress; to repulse; to trample on again”) (from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + fouler (“to impress, stamp; to trample, walk on; to mistreat, oppress”) (ultimately from Medieval Latin fullare (“to make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing, to full”), from Latin fullō (“one who fulls cloth, fuller”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to blow; to inflate, swell”)) + -ment (suffix forming nouns from verbs, usually denoting resulting actions or states). Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*bʰleh₃-}}, {{bor|en|fr|refoulement|t=act of pushing something back (as gunpowder into a gun barrel, or water by a dam); act of water overflowing; forced relocation of a group of people; forced repatriation of asylum-seekers or refugees}} French refoulement (“act of pushing something back (as gunpowder into a gun barrel, or water by a dam); act of water overflowing; forced relocation of a group of people; forced repatriation of asylum-seekers or refugees”), {{der|en|ML.|fullare|t=to make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing, to full}} Medieval Latin fullare (“to make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing, to full”), {{der|en|la|fullō|t=one who fulls cloth, fuller}} Latin fullō (“one who fulls cloth, fuller”), {{der|en|ine-pro|*bʰleh₃-|t=to blow; to inflate, swell}} Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to blow; to inflate, swell”), {{glossary|suffix}} suffix, {{glossary|noun}} noun, {{glossary|verb}} verb Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} refoulement (countable and uncountable, plural refoulements)
  1. (international law)
    (uncountable) The involuntary sending of refugees or asylum seekers to their country of origin or another one, where they are likely to face persecution and harm.
    Tags: uncountable Translations (involuntary sending): palauttaminen vaaralliselle alueelle (Finnish), refoulement [masculine] (French), Zurückweisung unter Zwang [feminine] (German), Zwangsabschiebung [feminine] (German), Zwangsdeportation [feminine] (German), Ausschaffung [feminine] (German)
    Sense id: en-refoulement-en-noun-cJoC6O~W Categories (other): International law, English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -ment, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 2 entries, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 64 12 11 13 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ment: 61 14 13 13 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 65 12 11 12 Disambiguation of Pages with 2 entries: 36 5 4 5 38 2 11 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 39 3 3 3 40 1 12 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 68 10 12 10 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 66 12 11 11 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 68 10 12 10 Disambiguation of 'involuntary sending': 84 4 8 4
  2. (international law)
    (countable) An instance thereof.
    Tags: countable
    Sense id: en-refoulement-en-noun-Ca-uWJyC Categories (other): International law
  3. (archaic)
    (uncountable) The forced relocation of a group of people.
    Tags: archaic, uncountable Translations (forced relocation): pakkosiirto (Finnish), Zwangsumsiedlung [feminine] (German), Vertreibung [feminine] (German)
    Sense id: en-refoulement-en-noun-zRWC454J Disambiguation of 'forced relocation': 6 8 57 30
  4. (archaic)
    (countable) An instance of that relocation.
    Tags: archaic, countable
    Sense id: en-refoulement-en-noun-eHqNwTAN

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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          "_dis1": "84 4 8 4",
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          "sense": "involuntary sending",
          "word": "palauttaminen vaaralliselle alueelle"
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          "sense": "involuntary sending",
          "tags": [
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "involuntary sending",
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "involuntary sending",
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "involuntary sending",
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          "_dis1": "6 8 57 30",
          "code": "fi",
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          "sense": "forced relocation",
          "word": "pakkosiirto"
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        "(archaic)",
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        "An instance of that relocation."
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        "(archaic)",
        "(countable) An instance of that relocation."
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        "archaic",
        "countable"
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      "ipa": "/ɹəˈfuːlmɒ̃/",
      "tags": [
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      "ipa": "/ɹəˌfulˈmɑn/",
      "tags": [
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      "rhymes": "(GA pronunciation) -ɒn"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "involuntary sending",
      "word": "palauttaminen vaaralliselle alueelle"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "involuntary sending",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "refoulement"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "involuntary sending",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Zurückweisung unter Zwang"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "involuntary sending",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Zwangsabschiebung"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "involuntary sending",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Zwangsdeportation"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "involuntary sending",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Ausschaffung"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "forced relocation",
      "word": "pakkosiirto"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "forced relocation",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Zwangsumsiedlung"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "forced relocation",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Vertreibung"
    }
  ],
  "word": "refoulement"
}

Download raw JSONL data for refoulement meaning in English (6.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-08-04 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-08-02 using wiktextract (a681f8a and 3c020d2). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.