zionismhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zionism_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_useZionism, n.
Revised 2021

Zionismnoun

  1. 1.
    1896–
    Originally: a movement among Jewish people for the re-establishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine. Later: a movement for the development and protection of the state of Israel. Also: advocacy of or support for this.
    Zionism was established as a political movement in 1897 at the initiative of Theodor Herzl (1860–1904). The state of Israel was established in 1948.
    1. 1896
      I would ask them..to consider whether Zionism..really deserves to be preached down as a standing danger to Israel's progress.
      Jewish Chronicle 15 May 10/1
    2. 1915
      The Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs..has also given a remarkable impetus to American Zionism.
      J. E. Sampter, Course in Zionism 63
    3. 1955
      It happened that Jewish workers in considerable numbers were the first to come to Palestine in answer to the appeal of Zionism.
      Times 9 May 9/3
    4. 1991
      The central affirmation of Zionism has always been the right of Jewish immigration and the need for sufficient territory to accommodate those who would want or need to come.
      New York Review of Books 7 March 53/1
    5. 2013
      What could have been a minor academic squabble is transformed here into a wide-ranging discussion of some of the major ideological disputes of the 20th century—Marxism, Zionism, liberalism and the significance of the Russian revolution.
      Economist 7 December 89/1
  2. 2.
    1948–
    A religious movement represented by a group of independent churches in southern Africa which practise a form of Christianity similar to that of Pentecostal churches, but incorporating elements of African traditional worship and belief. Also: the beliefs and practices of this movement.
    1. 1948
      One Zionist group..were led by Mngcube for a while... ‘His’ Zionist group is in the process of dissolving into fragments of which some are attracted to heathenism, others to some other form of Zionism.
      B. G. M. Sundkler, Bantu Prophets in South Africa v. 167
    2. 1994
      It was around 1910 that almost all the main strands of Zionism appeared in South Africa, not only the central tradition identified with the Nkonyanes, but the Church of the Light..and the Amanazaretha.
      A. Hastings, Church in Afr.: 1450–1950 xi. 502
    3. 2016
      In South Africa, Zionism is, parallel to Malawi, strongest among the Nguni; the churches are numerous in Swaziland, too.
      U. Strohbehn, Zionist Churches in Malawi ii. 76

Zionism, n. was revised in March 2021.

Zionism, n. was last modified in July 2023.