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n. 1. The dispersion of Jews outside of Israel from the sixth century BC, when they were exiled to Babylonia, until the present time. 2. often diaspora The body of Jews or Jewish communities outside Palestine or modern Israel. 3. diaspora a. A dispersion of a people from their original homeland. b. The community formed by such a people: "the glutinous dish known throughout the [West African] diaspora as ... fufu" (Jonell Nash). 4. diaspora A dispersion of an originally homogeneous entity, such as a language or culture: "the diaspora of English into several mutually incomprehensible languages" (Randolph Quirk). [Greek diasporā, dispersion, from diaspeirein, to spread about : dia-, apart; see DIA- + speirein, to sow, scatter; see sper- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] di·aspo·ric, di·aspo·ral adj. |
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