apartheid
noun /əˈpɑːtaɪt/, /əˈpɑːteɪt/
/əˈpɑːrtaɪt/, /əˈpɑːrteɪt/
[uncountable]- the former political system in South Africa in which only white people had full political rights and other people, especially black people, were forced to live away from white people, go to separate schools, etc.
- under apartheid the pressures of life under apartheid
Extra ExamplesTopics People in societyc2- He was jailed for advocating the violent overthrow of the apartheid system.
- Many countries boycotted South Africa in a bid to end apartheid.
- Under apartheid, white people were not allowed to marry non-white people.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryApartheid is used before these nouns:- era
Word Origin1940s: from Afrikaans, literally ‘separateness’, from Dutch apart ‘separate’ + -heid (equivalent of -hood).