eurocentrism means the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture. It carries an Arena rating of 1149, earned across 179 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, eurocentrism ranks #122 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #2,017 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #5,478 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #5,857 of 17,151 for The Improbable.
Why “eurocentrism” is a great word
EUROCENTRISM — [Noun] The practice of interpreting the world from a European perspective, with an implicit assumption of European cultural preeminence. A back-formation from 'Eurocentric', itself a compound of the combining form 'Euro-' (from 'Europe') and '-centrism' (from 'centric', ultimately from Greek 'kentron', meaning 'center'); coined during the period of decolonization in the later 20th century. Unlike ethnocentrism, a general belief in one's own ethnic superiority, or universalism, the idea of universally applicable values, Eurocentrism is the specific machinery that presents a regional history as *the* history, a particular aesthetic as high art, and a local set of values as human nature. It is the Mercator projection stretching continents to fit a narrative, the museum gallery where looted artifacts stand silent under didactic labels, and the unshakable assumption that progress has a single, westward vector—a quiet colonization of the mind that mistakes its map for the territory.
Etymology
Coined during the period of decolonization in the later 20th century, as a back-formation from Eurocentric. Superficially Euro- + -centrism
noun
- The practice of viewing the world from a European perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture.e.g.“The rather philistine assertion of Eurocentrism and Westernness on the part of conservative educators […]” — 1993, Cameron McCarthy, Warren Crichlow, Race, identity, and representation in education, page 294:
- European ethnocentrism.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- westcentrism 78% match — The practice of viewing the world from a Western perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of Western culture. vs eurocentrism →
- ethnocentrism 71% match — The tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own traditional, deferred, or adoptive ethnic culture. vs eurocentrism →
- eurocentricity 71% match — The quality of being Eurocentric. vs eurocentrism →
- anglocentrism 68% match — The practice of viewing the world from an English or Anglo-American perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of English or Anglo-American culture. vs eurocentrism →
- balkanocentrism 68% match — The practice of viewing the world from a Balkans perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of Balkans culture. vs eurocentrism →
- europocentric 68% match — Synonym of Eurocentric. vs eurocentrism →
- sociocentrism 63% match — The tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own social group or society. vs eurocentrism →
- eurocolonialism 63% match — European colonialism. vs eurocentrism →