feminist
Americanadjective
noun
-
feminists
plural
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of feminist
First recorded in 1850–55 (probably in the current sense, but possibly in the sense “feminine, womanly”); from Latin fēmina “woman” + -ist ( def. )
Explanation
A feminist is someone who supports equal rights for women. If your brother objects strongly to women being paid less than men for doing the same job, he's probably a feminist. If you believe that women should have the same political, social, and economic rights as men, you are a feminist. It has absolutely nothing to do with putting down men or boys in order to elevate the status of women. The word feminist comes from feminism, which originally meant simply "being feminine," or "being a woman," but gained the meaning "advocacy of women's rights" in the late 1800s.
Vocabulary lists containing feminist
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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Chapter 29: The Civil Rights Era
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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.
See Examples For:
Suk’s scholarship focuses on the processes of constitutional amendment and reform and the feminist constitutional movements.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
Dr Kathrin Thomas said her friend Claire O'Shea was "a real feminist"
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
The Latin Grammy-winning artist has long championed feminist causes and challenged sexual harassment in the entertainment industry — a topic central to her 2024 Netflix documentary, “Mon Laferte, Te Amo.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
“We are waiting to give birth to ourselves,” Gloria Steinem writes in “An Unexpected Life,” a memoir that touches only lightly on events from the personal life of the celebrated feminist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
They crisscrossed the country for eight or nine months of the year, speaking about suffrage, as well as other feminist topics.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
Many feminists, especially socialist ones, have demanded wages for housework as well as childcare—salaries, in other words, for mothers who stay home.
From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026
Ms. also took flak from some of Steinem’s sister feminists, who contended that it cast women as victims.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
At the time, the union drew gasps of surprise and even disappointment from some feminists, who had spent years following Steinem's heated debates surrounding marriage laws.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
During Reconstruction, first-wave feminists agitated for the 14th Amendment to not just remedy the stain of slavery, but to eliminate inequality in all its forms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
One of the most famous—or infamous—of these New Departure feminists was Victoria Claflin Woodhull.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
