Black Lives Matter

noun

: a movement founded in 2013 to end white supremacy and support Black communities

Note: Black Lives Matter was founded by Black community organizers Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi after George Zimmerman was acquitted of charges relating to his fatal shooting of Black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012; the movement expanded as people reacted to police killings of unarmed Black people in years following. The name Black Lives Matter functions as a declaration that Black people's lives have as much value as white people's lives, and as a call to end systems and practices that challenge this fact.

—abbreviation BLM

Examples of Black Lives Matter in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Driven by movements like Black Lives Matter and MeToo, the report noted that younger Generation Z employees have different expectations than their older, more senior colleagues. —Max Goldbart, Deadline, 28 Apr. 2025

Ryan Coogler first turned heads with his 2013 debut Fruitvale Station, a shattering account of a fatal shooting that presaged the surge of the Black Lives Matter movement. —David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 10 Apr. 2025

Opal Tometi Opal Tometi, a Nigerian-American human rights advocate and strategist, is one of the three co-founders of Black Lives Matter. —Sughnen Yongo, Forbes.com, 10 Apr. 2025

The tweet was widely interpreted as an expression of opposition to the growing Black Lives Matter movement, although Napear has denied that was his intent. —Sharon Bernstein, Sacbee.com, 8 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

2014, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Black Lives Matter

• antimatter
• atter
• batter
• blatter
• catarrh
• chatter
• clatter
• fatter
• flatter
• hatter
• latter
• natter