antifa

noun

an·​ti·​fa an-ˈtē-fə 

ˈan-tē-ˌfä

variants or less commonly Antifa

1

: a person or group actively opposing fascism

The groups … prominently featured about 100 Christian ministers in clerical garb, angry Charlottesville residents, peace advocates, Black Lives Matter activists, and self-styled anti-fascists who call themselves "antifas" …

—Peter Weber

After the war, Antifas varied in size and composition across the former Reich, now divided into four zones of occupation, and developed in interaction with the local occupying power.

—Loren Balhorn

2

: an anti-fascist movement

Antifa is the backlash to the backlash, a defensive response to the growing presence of right-wing extremism.

—Todd Gitlin

antifa adjective

antifa protesters

Examples of antifa in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Some of the right-wing influencers gathered around the table urged him to designate antifa as a foreign terrorist organization. —Ryan Lucas, NPR, 28 Oct. 2025

Casting antifa as a domestic terrorist equivalent of the Islamic State nation or Hamas serves several functions. —Art Jipson, The Conversation, 28 Oct. 2025

This asymmetry between how Trump handles antifa versus the Proud Boys underscores that this is more political theatrics and less than responding to security threats. —Sal Rodriguez, Oc Register, 13 Oct. 2025

Trump late last month signed an order designating antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, following through on a pledge — in the wake of the killing of Charlie Kirk — to crack down on left-wing groups. —Brett Samuels, The Hill, 8 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Antifa, short for antifaschistisch "anti-fascist," in Antifaschistische Aktion (multiparty front initiated by the German Communist Party in 1932 to counter Nazism) and in other collocations

First Known Use

1946, in the meaning defined at sense 1