social movement

American  

noun

1. a group of diffusely organized people or organizations striving toward a common goal relating to human society or social change, or the organized activities of such a group.

   The push for civil rights was a social movement that peaked in the 1950s and 1960s.

---

Etymology

Origin of social movement

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim militia, political party and social movement, is Lebanon's most powerful group.

From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026

Likewise, Epstein saw #MeToo as a problem to be neutralized because the success of any social movement in which women were treated as reliable narrators of their own exploitation would impede his own racket.”

From Salon • May 23, 2026

Changing perceptions about aging is the biggest social movement of our lives, much in the same way other social movements have advanced the rights of women, civil rights and LGBTQ+, Clinton said.

From MarketWatch • May 4, 2026

Hu said he would be happy if his book helped improve the situation of delivery drivers, but "from a social movement perspective, literature is not very effective".

From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026

I argue that nothing short of a major social movement can successfully dismantle the new caste system.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander