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

One man dressed in the costume of the Ku Klux Klan, a waterproof bag hidden under his robes, writes historian Gerald Horne in The White Pacific: U.S. Imperialism and Black Slavery in the South Seas After the Civil War. —Shoshi Parks, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Dec. 2024

There was a notorious Ku Klux Klan lynching in 1981, more than a decade after the Jim Crow era. —Debbie Elliott, NPR, 26 Nov. 2024

He was booted from the show after a controversial video of him hanging out with a friend who was wearing a hood similar to the ones worn by the Ku Klux Klan surfaced online. —Rachel Desantis, People.com, 21 Nov. 2024

Bath & Body Works recently pulled a seasonal candle from its shelves after complaints that the snowflake design on its label resembled Ku Klux Klan hoods. —Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 21 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1867, in the meaning defined at sense 2