balkanizev.
/ˈbɔːlkənʌɪz/, /ˈbɔːlkn̩ʌɪz/, /ˈbɒlkənʌɪz/, /ˈbɒlkn̩ʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈbɔlkəˌnaɪz/, /ˈbɑlkəˌnaɪz/ 1. transitive. To make Balkan. rare.
ΚΠ
1917 Proclamation in L. Carnovale Why Italy entered Great War ii. xv. 190 This artificial invasion..is demanded by the Austrian government..to Balkanize Trieste in order to concentrate in it, politically and commercially, the Western Balkans.
2.
a. transitive. To divide (a region) into a number of smaller, often mutually hostile, political or territorial units. Also intransitive: to fragment or be divided in this way. Cf. balkanization n.Originally with allusion to the breaking up of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires in the late 19th and early 20th cent., and the formation of separate Balkan states.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > direct rule, devolution, or trusteeship > [verb (transitive)] > divide into smaller units
balkanize1918
1918 Fortn. Rev. 2 Dec. 871 There is also a distinct probability that China may break up and be ‘balkanised’ too.
1931 A. L. Rowse Politics & Younger Generation x. 267 A war which began with the attempt to impose order in the Balkans has had the effect of balkanizing Europe.
1964 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 58 633 Neo-imperial plots to Balkanize Africa.
1989 P. Stroller Fusion of Worlds 16 Princely rivalries caused the empire to balkanize into five chiefdoms.
2012 Afr. News (Nexis) 7 Aug. We denounce these wars and the attempt by the rebels to balkanize our country.
b. transitive. In extended use (usually with negative connotations): to divide (a whole) into a number of separate parts; to cause to fragment; to split. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > action of dividing or divided condition > cleaving or splitting > cleave or split [verb (transitive)]
to-cleavec888
cleavea1100
forcleavec1290
shidec1315
rivec1330
sheara1340
carvec1374
slivea1400
thrusche1483
porfend1490
splet1530
share?1566
spleet1585
splint1591
split1595
diverberate1609
fissure1656
spall1841
balkanize1942
1942 Fortune Nov. 32/2 (heading) Balkanizing the war effort... One of the most important businessmen on the West Coast put clearly what many people had been trying to crystallize—the absurdity of chopping up what should be one big job.
1974 Publius 4 95 Local control balkanizes and fragments welfare policy.
1988 Nature 9 June 493/2 It is not so much that science has been balkanized by specialization, but that the conventions of the trade impede communication even with would-be readers.
2003 P. Catterall Macmillan Diaries p. xx Their method of composition, in a series of grand thematic chapters, also effectively balkanized the diaries, extracts from which, taken out of context, were scattered throughout.
2006 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 23 Apr. iv. 4/1 Is the country destined to balkanize into a patchwork of polar-opposite policies?
Derivatives
ˈBalkanized adj.
ΚΠ
1919 World Tomorrow Mar. 61/2 An idle, starving, embittered Germany, which may before many weeks have passed become a Government-less Germany, torn by factional strife,—a Balkanized Central Europe!
1920 Public Opinion 2 July 4/3 In this unhappy Balkanised world..every state is at issue with its neighbours.
1989 New Scientist 19 Aug. 64/1 This is a new situation, which cannot be met, as in the past, by a balkanised administration in several research councils.
2008 New Yorker 21 July 51/2 Twelve years of chaotic, balkanized politics.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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