Ku Klux Klan

American  

[koo kluhks klan] / ˈku ˈklʌks ˈklæn /

noun

1. U.S. History. a secret hate group in the southern U.S., active for several years after the Civil War, which aimed to suppress the newly acquired rights of Black people and to oppose carpetbaggers from the North, and which was responsible for many lawless and violent proceedings.

2. Official Name Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.  a secret hate group inspired by the former, founded in 1915 and currently active across the U.S., especially in the South, directed against Black people, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, foreign-born individuals, and other groups.

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Ku Klux Klan British  

/ ˈkuː ˈklʌks ˈklæn /

noun

1. a secret organization of White Southerners formed after the US Civil War to fight Black emancipation and Northern domination

2. a secret organization of White Protestant Americans, mainly in the South, who use violence against Black people, Jewish people, and other minority groups

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Ku Klux Klan Cultural  

1. A secret society dedicated to the supremacy of white people in the United States. It began in the South during the time of Reconstruction and attempted to terrorize the many southern blacks and carpetbaggers who had replaced white southerners in positions of power. The Klan gained renewed strength in the 1920s and again in the 1960s but is now very diminished. It has stated that it aims to preserve “pure Americanism.” It has attacked Jews (see also Jews) and Roman Catholics, along with immigrants and communists but is still primarily opposed to equal rights for black people and has often engaged in violence against them. Klansmen wear white hoods and robes. Klan leaders have titles such as Grand Dragon, Grand Cyclops, and Imperial Wizard.

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Discover More

A favored tactic of Klansmen is to burn a wooden cross outside the house of someone whom they wish to intimidate. Typically, they want the occupant to move out of the vicinity. The burning cross is a threat of future assaults if the victim does not do what the Klan wants.

Other Word Forms

• Ku Kluxer
  noun
• Ku Kluxism
  noun

Etymology

Origin of Ku Klux Klan

First recorded in 1865–70; Ku Klux (perhaps from Greek kýklos “circle, assembly”) + Klan, spelling variant of clan

Example Sentences

MONTGOMERY, Ala. —President Trump in his first term proved a windfall for the Southern Poverty Law Center, the antiracism nonprofit famed for its courtroom wins against the Ku Klux Klan decades ago.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

Similar tactics were used against the Ku Klux Klan, Students for a Democratic Society, and Black Power groups.

From Slate • Aug. 30, 2025

Besides evil billionaires, Superman has taken on superpowered supervillains, alien invaders and even his clones, as well as human threats like Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 12, 2025

The same was true in the mid-1920s, when similar coalitions fought against the immensely popular second Ku Klux Klan.

From Salon • Oct. 24, 2023

What drove Kennedy was a hatred of small-mindedness, ignorance, obstructionism, and intimidation—which, in his view, were displayed by no organization more proudly than the Ku Klux Klan.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt