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
When Fake is Real: Young People Rebel Against Instagram, Via Instagram
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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:
"She was somebody who was exceptional - a real trailblazer and a feminist icon," Jenner-Fust said.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Bonino served as a European commissioner and a foreign minister in Italy but was best known as a militant feminist with an inexorable dedication to political and humanitarian causes.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
“I hope I wasn’t the face of the feminist movement,” Steinem says during the intimate conversation released Thursday on the streamer after her death at age 92.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Journalist and feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem, who co-founded Ms. magazine and spent her life working toward a more equitable world for women and girls, died on Wednesday in Manhattan.
From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2026
I’m thinking, Oh, so you can drag me to play basketball during one of your feminist rages, but you can’t follow my Tumblr because of Emmett Till?
From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
For decades now, American feminists have asked our government to do more to support families and children.
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
"Yeah," we concur, hands on our hips, facing him, a line-up of feminists.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Definitions 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.
