political asylum

American

noun

asylum provided by one nation to refugees, especially political refugees, from another nation.

Etymology

Origin of political asylum

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Barre was then given political asylum by Nigeria, then under military ruler Gen Ibrahim Babangida, and lived in Lagos until he died of a diabetes-related illness.

From BBC

Faking illness to avoid a court case, he fled with his family to Amsterdam in 2009, where he claimed political asylum for "witnessing political violence and human rights violations" in Africa.

From BBC

Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph B. Edlow, supporting an application for giving Guan political asylum in the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal

Particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, Venezuela, then a stable democracy, granted political asylum to scores of Panamanian dissidents.

From The Wall Street Journal

Osechkin sought political asylum in France after leaving Russia under pressure from the Kremlin over his activism exposing abuse in Russia’s prisons.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023