--- title: After Trump's Tweets, People Have Been Searching for 'Racism' description: After President Donald Trump's racist tweets sparked debate over the definition of "racism," it was Merriam-Webster's most-searched word. canonical: https://time.com/5629368/merriam-webster-racism/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-18T12:30:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T00:01:22.189Z article:section: Politics og:title: After President Trump's Racist Tweets, People Have Been Searching for the Definition of 'Racism' og:description: It was Merriam-Webster's most-searched word og:url: https://time.com/5629368/merriam-webster-racism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45dcecf2be8631fb/698a002ee76ad2f6f7636286/donald-trump-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds "Keep America Great" Rally In Greenville, NC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: After President Trump's Racist Tweets, People Have Been Searching for the Definition of 'Racism' twitter:description: It was Merriam-Webster's most-searched word twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45dcecf2be8631fb/698a002ee76ad2f6f7636286/donald-trump-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # After President Trump's Racist Tweets, People Have Been Searching for the Definition of 'Racism' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 18, 2019 12:30 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks during a Keep America Great rally on July 17, 2019 in Greenville, North Carolina. President Donald Trump speaks during a Keep America Great rally on July 17, 2019 in Greenville, North Carolina. Zach Gibson—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 18, 2019 12:30 PM UTC As backlash and debate over a series of [racist tweets](https://time.com/5626134/trump-tweet-congresswomen-reaction/) posted by President Donald Trump continues, Merriam-Webster dictionary announced a big uptick in Americans searching for the definition of “racism.” “Tonight’s top searches, in order: racism, socialism, fascism, concentration camp, xenophobia, bigot,” Merriam-Webster tweeted on Wednesday night. > [](https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/1151676736419041280) Among Merriam-Webster’s definitions for “racism” are: “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race,” “a political or social system founded on racism” and “racial prejudice and discrimination.” The post came days after Trump apparently told four Democratic Congresswomen of color—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, [Ilhan Omar](https://time.com/longform/ilhan-omar-profile/), Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib—to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” All four women are U.S. citizens and all but Omar, who was born in Somalia, were born in the United States. Democrats quickly declared the tweets racist and [voted to condemn them](https://time.com/5627826/house-trump-racist-tweets-vote/), but the President pushed back on that accusation. On Monday, he declared that the tweets were “NOT Racist,” and that he doesn’t “have a Racist bone in my body!” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1151129281134768128) The President’s comments, as well as hesitance by many [Republican lawmakers](https://time.com/5627657/mcconnell-trump-racist-tweets/) and Trump supporters to call the tweets racist, sparked debate about the word’s actual definition—a debate that, apparently, drove many people to look it up for themselves, along with words like “fascism,” “xenophobia” and “bigot.” “Socialism” has also come up in the controversy, with Trump repeatedly calling the lawmakers socialist. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5629368/merriam-webster-racism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5629368/merriam-webster-racism/"},"headline":"After President Trump's Racist Tweets, People Have Been Searching for the Definition of 'Racism'","datePublished":"2019-07-18T12:30:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T00:01:22.189Z","description":"It was Merriam-Webster's most-searched word","url":"https://time.com/5629368/merriam-webster-racism/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45dcecf2be8631fb/698a002ee76ad2f6f7636286/donald-trump-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45dcecf2be8631fb/698a002ee76ad2f6f7636286/donald-trump-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds \"Keep America Great\" Rally In Greenville, NC","caption":"Donald Trump Holds \"Keep America Great\" Rally In Greenville, NC","creditText":"Zach Gibson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5629368/merriam-webster-racism/","name":"After President Trump's Racist Tweets, People Have Been Searching for the Definition of 'Racism'"}}]}] ```