antisemite

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person who is prejudiced against, hostile toward, or discriminatory toward Jewish people

   The investigation showed that the antisemite had spread conspiracy theories to incite hostility toward Jewish residents.

Borrowed in the late nineteenth century from German Antisemit, formed from anti- ('against') and Semit ('Semite'). Despite that formation, antisemite has always denoted hostility toward Jews, not toward all speakers of Semitic languages. The unhyphenated, lowercase spelling avoids implying that a doctrine called 'Semitism' exists.

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