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.

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Etymology

Origin of social movement

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

He is a leader in a growing social movement of disclosure advocates, government skeptics who speculate that the country is hiding crucial information about UAPs.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 18, 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

It is also a political party represented in parliament and in the government, and a social movement that runs services including schools and hospitals in areas where the state has been absent.

From BBC • May 13, 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

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