Ku Klux Klan

noun

ˈkü-ˈkləks-ˈklan 

 also  ˈkyü-,

 or  ˈklü-

1

: a violent secret fraternal society founded in 1915 in Georgia to maintain white Protestant cultural and political power

also : any one of more than 20 hate (see hate entry 1 sense 1c) groups that associate themselves with the Ku Klux Klan

2

: a violent post-Civil War secret society founded in Tennessee in 1866 to upend the Black political and social power that was being established during Reconstruction

Note: This Ku Klux Klan had largely dissolved by the end of the 1870s.

Examples of Ku Klux Klan in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Students listened to a discussion from activist and former professor Marvin Dunn about the history of the Moores, civil rights activists in Florida who died in their home from a bomb placed by members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1951. —Raisa Habersham, Miami Herald, 13 Feb. 2025

And of course, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sept. 15, 1963, killing four girls. —Sophie Hills, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Feb. 2025

This harkens back to the paramilitary Blackshirts in Italy and the Ku Klux Klan in this country. —Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 10 Feb. 2025

Terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan also helped ensure that few Black families were willing to be plaintiffs in such lawsuits. —Ian Millhiser, Vox, 10 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1867, in the meaning defined at sense 2