suffragette

American  

[suhf-ruh-jet] / ˌsʌf rəˈdʒɛt /

noun

1. a female advocate of the right of women to vote, especially one who participated in protests in the United Kingdom in the early 20th century.

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suffragette British  

/ ˌsʌfrəˈdʒɛt /

noun

1. a female advocate of the extension of the franchise to women, esp a militant one, as in Britain at the beginning of the 20th century

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suffragette Cultural  

1. A suffragist. Today, the term suffragette is often considered demeaning.

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Usage

What is a suffragette? A suffragette refers to a woman who advocates for women’s right to vote. This term especially applies to women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the U. S. and U. K.

Gender

See -ette.

Other Word Forms

• suffragettism noun

Etymology

Origin of suffragette

First recorded in 1900–05; suffrage + -ette

Compare meaning

How does suffragette compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• suffragist vs. suffragette

Explanation

A suffragette was a woman who advocated for women's right to vote during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Suffragettes — also called suffragists — used various tactics, including hunger strikes, in their fight for equality. While the term suffragist includes all the activists who have fought for the right to vote, particularly for women, suffragette usually refers specifically to the activists in the US and UK. The word was coined by a "Daily Mail" journalist, who used it in a derogatory way, only to have it embraced by the activists. The tactics of the suffragettes were controversial, and sometimes included arson and property damage. American and British women gained the right to vote in the early 1900s.

Example Sentences

To our good fortune, Guinness did play all eight, even the suffragette.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026

“She wasn’t a suffragette but she really demanded that men and women treat each other as equals and as participants in an equal partnership.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026

A grandmother in full suffragette cosplay posed for photos.

From Slate • Apr. 9, 2025

Green parallel lines: Named to celebrate how London's East End working-class community fought for women's rights, the line also runs to Barking, home of the longest-surviving suffragette, Annie Huggett, who died aged 103.

From BBC • Feb. 17, 2024

Inside, the parlor is a thicket of people—all the boarders of the house and even more: My aunt’s suffragette friends are here, and the washerwoman who comes for the bedclothes.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse