white man's burden

Definitions

The supposed responsibility of European people to govern and care for their colonial subjects.

Equivalents

Examples

“Uncle Sam has found his box of tricks heavy, and is having a whiff before going on with his white man's burden to the end⟳.”

“Germany's appearance as a colonizing power in Africa was greeted in no unfriendly spirit by either France or Great Britain. Each of the latter felt that it was already possessed of about all it could comfortably look⟳ after, and both realized that another shoulder under "The White Man's Burden" in the Dark Continent might make⟳ the load⟳ easier for all.”

“So into at least one state troops poured, a battalion of decent National Service lads, to continue⟳ to carry⟳, posthumously as it must be supposed, the White Man's Burden.”

CEFR level