noun phrase · academic
political polarization
UK/ˌpɒlɪtɪk(ə)l ˌpɒləraɪˈzeɪʃən/US/ˌpɑːlɪtɪk(ə)l ˌpɑːləraɪˈzeɪʃən/po·LI·ti·cal·po·la·ri·ZA·tion
A situation in which opinions in a society move to opposing extremes and compromise becomes difficult.
Examples
“Rising political polarization has made bipartisan legislation almost impossible.”
“Political polarization can be fuelled by echo chambers on social media.”
“Young voters are often seen as a key group affected by political polarization.”
Band 8 sentence
“The growing political polarization in many democracies is eroding the norms that previously enabled pragmatic compromise.”
Collocations
- deepening political polarization
- alleviate political polarization
- measure political polarization
Word family
Common mistakes
political divide→political polarization
party polarization→political polarization
Say it for a higher band
5political disagreement→6political divide→7+political polarization
Synonyms
partisan divide
ideological polarization
Easily confused
partisan divide
“The partisan divide in Congress makes compromise on key bills difficult.”
Related words
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In Society & Government
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