noun
- organized massacres or violent attacks on a particular ethnic or religious group, especially Jews in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Usage: plural form; historically associated with anti-Jewish violence in 19th and early 20th century Russia and Eastern Europe; can refer to any systematic violent persecution of a minority group
Examples
- The pogroms in Russia during the late 1800s forced many Jewish families to emigrate to America.
- Historians study the pogroms as examples of organized religious persecution.
- The community erected a memorial to remember the victims of the pogroms.
- Pogroms have occurred throughout history against various minority groups.
- The government's failure to prevent the pogroms remains a dark chapter in the nation's past.