Thrown around carelessly, ‘ethnic cleansing’ is a term often used amongst journalists, lawyers, and political figures to encompass crimes within mass atrocities. When ‘ethnic cleansing’ is used in place of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, legal status is given despite it having none. To bring rigor and consistency, I propose my own definition and compare it with crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide, discussing the similarities of each category and how ‘ethnic cleansing’ fits within the scope of international criminal law.