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displacement

diss-PLAY-smunt /dɪsˈpleɪs.mənt/

nounC1TOEFLIELTSGRE

formalacademic

The forced movement of people from their home or region due to conflict, disaster, or hazard.

Emphasizes involuntary loss of home base and disruption of community social fabrics.

The story behind the word. Combines prefix 'dis-' (away from) with 'place'. In physics it refers to volume of fluid displaced; in humanitarian contexts it developed during 20th-century conflicts to describe forced civilian uprooting.

Word relationships

dislocation: Focuses on disruption of normal social order or physical joint movement.
eviction: Refers specifically to legal removal from rented property.

resettlement: The act of settling permanently in a new, safe location.
repatriation: Returning individuals safely to their home country.

Commonly confused with

migration: Migration is often voluntary economic movement; displacement implies forced removal due to threat.

Word family

displace (verb): To force someone or something to leave its usual place.
displaced (adjective): Forced out of home or customary position.

Collocations

forced displacement
internal displacement
displacement camp
mass displacement

Idioms & expressions

uprooted from home

Example sentences

"The sudden dam breach caused the immediate displacement of over twenty thousand villagers." Disaster Sociology

Memory hook

DISPLACEMENT means taking people out of their PLACE. Uprooted from home.

When not to use

Do not use for voluntary weekend travel or planned house moves.

Fun facts

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) differ legally from refugees because IDPs remain within their country's national borders.