feminist

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noun

fem·​i·​nist ˈfe-mə-nist 

plural feminists

: a person who supports or engages in feminism

Similarly, Saint Thomas's resident nun, Sister Maureen (Ann Dowd), is no girlish cutie: She's an ardent, in-your-face feminist.

—Terrence Rafferty

He [Stendhal] was a feminist and … he held that to deprive women of education 'deprives society of half its potential for intellectual achievement'.

—V. S. Pritchett

feminist

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adjective

: of, relating to, supporting, or compatible with feminism

feminist theory

the feminist movement

The act of speaking is a way women come to power, telling our stories, sharing history, engaging in feminist discussion.

—bell hooks

[Patricia] Ireland, past president of the National Organization for Women, is perhaps the best-known former Pan Am flight attendant of the '60s; seven years working for the airline helped inspire her feminist activism, which included campaigning for the Equal Rights Amendment.

—Sarah Rose

Examples of feminist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Luckily, little Hamid happens to be a modern-day mama’s boy, a feminist in his own right, anxious to one day call a pioneering Iranian singer mom. —Lauren Wissot, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2024

But if, as the exhibition suggests, there was something inherently radical in the use of textiles by early twentieth-century artists, that assumption is challenged by these later feminists, who frequently draw attention to textiles’ non-utopian qualities. —K. L. H. Wells, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2024

Adjective

The feminist movement is the movement that is most apt to create a common ground. —Hazlitt, 4 Sep. 2024

Yet Barnet is skeptical of activism, depicting environmentalists as posers and lambasting the feminist movement. —Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1887, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1852, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing feminist

• anti-feminist
• pre-feminist
• trans exclusionary radical feminist