refoulement

Meaning

1. (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.
2. (countable) An instance thereof.
3. (archaic, uncountable) The forced relocation of a group of people.
4. (archaic, countable) An instance of that relocation.

Synonyms

expulsion

return

Translations

refoulement

Ausweisung und Zurückweisung eines Flüchtlings

επαναπροώθηση

refoulement

uitwijzing

refoulement

devolución

إعادة قسرية

refoulement

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɹəˈfuːlmɒ̃/

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).