microaggression

noun

mi·​cro·​ag·​gres·​sion ˌmī-krō-ə-ˈgre-shən 

: a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority)

A digital photo project run by a Fordham University student about "racial microaggressions" features minority students holding up signs with comments like "You're really pretty … for a dark-skin girl."

—Jinnie Spiegler

There is a real and worthy conversation taking place in this country now, particularly among young people, around the idea of microaggressions—slight, often unintended discriminatory comments or behaviors.

—Charles M. Blow

also : behavior or speech that is characterized by such comments or actions

… argues that the power of microaggression lies in its invisibility to the perpetrator, who typically finds it difficult to believe that he or she possesses biased attitudes.

—Emily Skop

microaggressive

ˌmī-krō-ə-ˈgre-siv 

adjective

microaggressive behaviors

… the group quite clearly criticized his teaching as microaggressive.

—Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

microaggressor

ˌmī-krō-ə-ˈgre-sər 

noun

Even "microaggressions" websites themselves would be unobjectionable to some of their critics if they merely made the case that certain phrases and behaviors should be avoided. What these critics find objectionable are two other aspects of "microaggressions" culture: attempts to publicly shame "microaggressors;" and attempts to punish alleged "microaggressors" by reporting them to the authorities.

—Conor Friedersdorf

Examples of microaggression in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The moment of recognition is fleeting but will soon enough be pivotal to the show — especially as it is cushioned by many a microaggression on both women (one Black, one Jewish) at the hands of the busybody store employees. —Manuel Betancourt, Vulture, 19 July 2024

Jasmine Crockett Social media’s favorite congresswoman Jasmine Crockett went viral this year after clapping back at Marjorie Taylor Greene, who made fun of her false eyelashes — a racist microaggression — during a House Oversight Committee meeting. —Katherine Singh, refinery29.com, 5 Sep. 2024

While technically true, this isn’t really what most people would consider to be a microaggression. —WIRED, 7 Oct. 2023

Related: Is ‘ladies’ a microaggression? —Adria Watson, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Apr. 2023

Word History

Etymology

micro- + aggression

Note: The word was introduced by the Black American psychiatrist Chester Middlebrook Pierce (1927-2016), probably earliest in the essay "Offensive Mechanisms," in The Black Seventies (Boston, 1970), p. 266.

First Known Use

1970, in the meaning defined above