Standard Lemma guide

expansionism

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɛkˈspænʃənɪzəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH0 K S P AE1 N SH AH0 N IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: IH0 K S P AE1 N CH AH0 N IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The policy, of a nation, of expanding its territory or its economic influence.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the doctrine of expanding the territory or the economic influence of a country

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: doctrine, philosophy, philosophical system, school of thought, ism

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English expansion Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English expansionism From expansion + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: ekspansionizëm — tendency to annex territories
  • Arabic: تَوَسُّعِيَّة (tawassuʕiyya) — tendency to annex territories
  • Armenian: էքսպանսիոնիզմ (ēkʻspansionizm) — tendency to annex territories
  • Azerbaijani: ekspansionizm — tendency to annex territories
  • Belarusian: экспансіяні́зм (ekspansijanízm) — tendency to annex territories
  • Bulgarian: експанзиони́зъм (ekspanzionízǎm) — tendency to annex territories
  • Catalan: expansionisme — tendency to annex territories
  • Chinese Mandarin: 擴張主義 /扩张主义 (kuòzhāngzhǔyì) — tendency to annex territories
  • Chinese Mandarin: 膨脹主義 /膨胀主义 (péngzhàngzhǔyì) — tendency to annex territories
  • Czech: expanzionismus — tendency to annex territories
  • Dutch: expansionisme — tendency to annex territories
  • Estonian: ekspansionism — tendency to annex territories
  • French: expansionnisme — tendency to annex territories
  • Georgian: ექსპანსიონიზმი (eksṗansionizmi) — tendency to annex territories
  • German: Expansionismus — tendency to annex territories
  • Greek: επεκτατισμός (epektatismós) — tendency to annex territories
  • Hindi: विस्तारवाद (vistārvād) — tendency to annex territories
  • Hungarian: expanzionizmus — tendency to annex territories
  • Hungarian: terjeszkedési politika — tendency to annex territories
  • Hungarian: terjeszkedő politika — tendency to annex territories
  • Italian: espansionismo — tendency to annex territories
  • Japanese: 膨張主義 (bōchōshugi) — tendency to annex territories
  • Korean: 팽창주의 (paengchangjuui) — tendency to annex territories
  • Macedonian: експанзиони́зам (ekspanzionízam) — tendency to annex territories
  • Persian: توسعهطلبی (towse'e-talabi) — tendency to annex territories
  • Polish: ekspansjonizm — tendency to annex territories
  • Portuguese: expansionismo — tendency to annex territories
  • Romanian: expansionism — tendency to annex territories
  • Russian: экспансиони́зм (ekspansionízm) — tendency to annex territories
  • Serbo-Croatian: експанзионѝзам — tendency to annex territories
  • Serbo-Croatian: ekspanzionìzam — tendency to annex territories
  • Slovak: expanzionizmus — tendency to annex territories
  • Slovene: ekspanzionizem — tendency to annex territories
  • Spanish: expansionismo — tendency to annex territories
  • Swahili: sera ya upanuzi — tendency to annex territories
  • Swedish: expansionism — tendency to annex territories
  • Ukrainian: експансіоні́зм (ekspansionízm) — tendency to annex territories
  • Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa bành trướng — tendency to annex territories