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:
Looking back on it, do you see it as a feminist moment?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
“I don’t want to call it a feminist revenge fantasy because that belittles it,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 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
The feminist icon died on Wednesday at the age of 92, her foundation said in a statement.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Female common chimpanzees cannot take lessons from their bonobo relatives and stage a feminist revolution.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
For decades now, American feminists have asked our government to do more to support families and children.
From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026
As new waves of feminists confronted different issues, some became exasperated by Steinem’s seemingly perennial role as the face of the women’s movement.
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
In what way do tradwives and feminists need each other?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
I was either hard-driving and angry or, with my garden and messages about healthy eating, I was a disappointment to feminists, lacking a certain stridency.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
