affirmative action

noun

: the use of policies, legislation, programs, and procedures to improve the educational or employment opportunities of members of certain demographic groups (such as minority groups, women, and older people) as a remedy to the effects of long-standing discrimination against such groups

Note: Affirmative action gives limited preference to qualified groups (which may include racial and ethnic minorities, women, older people, people with disabilities, and some veterans) in job hiring, admission to institutions of higher education, the awarding of government contracts, and other social benefits.

The term affirmative action was … used in an executive order issued by President Johnson in 1965, which banned all federal contractors and subcontractors, as well as unions involved in federal work, from practicing employment discrimination.

—Michael L. Levine

Unlike previous measures, such as the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965, which prohibited discrimination, the goal of affirmative action was to adopt a proactive approach to redressing past discrimination. It goes beyond the prohibition of overtly racist practices by requiring employers, public contractors, and college admissions officers to cast a wider net in their searches for qualified workers and students through active recruitment of racial minorities.

—Shirley J. Yee et al.

Examples of affirmative action in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The concept touches on many of the topics driving political debate across the United States, from criminal justice reform and diversity, equity, and inclusion to affirmative action and immigration. —John Scott Lewinski, The Washington Examiner, 5 Sep. 2025

Barrett has sided with the conservative majority in many cases, bolstering national gun rights, ending affirmative action, and limiting the ability of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions in a more recent birthright citizenship decision. —Solcyré Burga, Time, 2 Sep. 2025

This has already happened in recent decisions that curtailed reproductive freedom, eliminated affirmative action in college admissions and expanded the powers of the president, including immunizing the president from criminal prosecution. —Tim Komatsu, The Conversation, 28 Aug. 2025

This too is about students wanting to feel welcome–in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision outlawing affirmative action in admissions, applications to historically Black colleges like Howard University (#383) surged. —Emma Whitford, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1961, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for affirmative action

• abstraction
• attraction
• compaction
• contraction
• detraction
• diffraction
• distraction
• exaction
• extraction
• impaction
• inaction
• infraction

Kids Definition

affirmative action

noun

: the use of laws, policies, and programs giving limited preference to qualified minority groups and women to improve educational and employment opportunities as a remedy to the effects of long-standing discrimination

Legal Definition

affirmative action

noun

: an active effort (as through legislation) to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups or women