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

In addition to King, the program targeted the Black Panther Party, Communist Party, Ku Klux Klan and Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, the encyclopedia says. —Michael Loria, USA Today, 21 July 2025

Besides evil billionaires, Superman has taken on superpowered supervillains, alien invaders and even his clones, as well as human threats like Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. —Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2025

Superintendent Burl Carroll, whom the Ku Klux Klan had endorsed, inspected the premises along with an instructional superintendent from Austin. —Hollace Ava Weiner, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 July 2025

Superhero comics have historically not shied away from political themes — Captain America, for example, famously punched Adolf Hitler on a 1941 comic cover, and Superman fought the Ku Klux Klan in a 1946 radio broadcast. —Angela Yang, NBC news, 10 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1867, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for Ku Klux Klan

• businessman
• canavan
• caravan
• constantan
• dragoman
• fisherman
• handyman
• harmattan
• journeyman
• marianne
• middleman
• minivan