TERF

American

[turf] / tɜrf /

noun

Disparaging.

trans-exclusionary radical feminist: an advocate of radical feminism who does not believe that transgender people's gender identities are legitimate, and who is hostile to the inclusion of trans women in the feminist movement.

Usage

What does TERF mean? TERF is an acronym for "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" or "trans-exclusionary radical feminist."

Etymology

Origin of TERF

Coined in 2008 by Australian feminist writer Viv Smythe as “a deliberately technically neutral description”

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.

Ever since making a clumsy statement about the differing experiences of transgender women and cisgender women, the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has sometimes been disparaged as a TERF, or “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.”

From New York Times • Jul. 24, 2018

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023