fem·i·nist
ˈfe-mə-nist 
plural feminists
: a person who supports or engages in feminism
Similarly, Saint Thomas's resident nun, Sister Maureen (Ann Dowd), is no girlish cutie: She's an ardent, in-your-face feminist.—
Terrence Rafferty
Terrence RaffertyHe [Stendhal] was a feminist and … he held that to deprive women of education 'deprives society of half its potential for intellectual achievement'.—V. S. Pritchett
V. S. Pritchett
: of, relating to, supporting, or compatible with feminism
feminist theory
the feminist movement
The act of speaking is a way women come to power, telling our stories, sharing history, engaging in feminist discussion.—bell hooks
bell hooks[Patricia] Ireland, past president of the National Organization for Women, is perhaps the best-known former Pan Am flight attendant of the '60s; seven years working for the airline helped inspire her feminist activism, which included campaigning for the Equal Rights Amendment.—Sarah Rose
Sarah Rose
Examples of feminist in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebAnn Hornaday, Washington Post, 21 Nov. 2023
As Angela Davis said in the Black Women Radicals webinar, Black feminists are capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.
—Brea Baker, refinery29.com, 6 Nov. 2023
Online, posts that refer to the #MeToo movement are deleted, and nationalist bloggers attack feminists with a public presence as foreign agents.
—Kanis Leung, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 Oct. 2023
The Sisterhood was a group of these and other Black feminists who met once a month in the late ’70s.
—Boris Kachka, Los Angeles Times, 1 Nov. 2023
Their tense day-to-day life on the farm is turned upside down when Laura’s mother, Solange (Deneuve), an eccentric French feminist, shows up unannounced.
—Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 30 Oct. 2023
On Wednesday, the Tribune, quoting two of Russo’s associates, reported that Russo has used anonymous social media accounts to praise Fuentes and rail against immigration, feminists, the LGBTQ community and Black people.
Texans for Strong Borders hasn’t hidden its views.
—Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC News, 26 Oct. 2023
Courtesy Susan Levinstein Prominent U.S. feminist Prof. Carol Gilligan, who has supported peace work in Israel for decades, knows Silver well and agrees.
—TIME, 18 Oct. 2023
These disparities galvanized Chicana feminists into creative writing and artistic expression that dismantled dominant themes reinforcing misogyny.
—Sarah Quiñones Wolfson, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2023
Brea Baker, refinery29.com, 6 Nov. 2023
Wound boldly tells the story of a young lesbian poet at a moment in which feminist and LGBTQ+ rights activists like Yulia Tsvetkova are being tried in Russian courts, mixing the narrator’s all-encompassing grief with the multifaceted beauty of the everyday world.
—Emma Specter, Vogue, 3 Nov. 2023
The feminist artist Judy Chicago has her first major New York survey ever at the New Museum.
—Elizabeth Paton, New York Times, 16 Nov. 2023
However, on a deeper level lies an even more subversive feminist statement, perhaps.
—Jamie Bryan, Rolling Stone, 16 Nov. 2023
The actor’s performance as Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who became a feminist icon and human rights activist, earned critical praise and struck a chord with French audiences, becoming one of the highest-grossing French films of 2022.
—Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 14 Nov. 2023
China’s feminist movement has grown stronger as more women enter the workforce — the number of women employed in urban China has increased almost 40% in the last 10 years.
—Murphy Zhao, NBC News, 11 Nov. 2023
Lost in the decades since has been her bravery in choosing to stake it all on a film that was unabashedly feminist and Jewish.
—Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 7 Nov. 2023
The touchstone characters, all sensationally realized — Teal Wicks as a White patrician undergoing a feminist awakening; Bobby Smith as a Jewish immigrant with a gift for entrepreneurship; Awa Sal Secka as a Black woman of infinite devotion — animate those cogs hearteningly.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 6 Nov. 2023
See More
Noun
This is the movie that, for so many women my age, fulfilled the feminist promise we were raised on but rarely saw on the big screen: that our lives and friendships were worthy of the buddy films, road pictures and mythic westerns long dominated by adventurous, rule-flouting men.
—Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 21 Nov. 2023
As Angela Davis said in the Black Women Radicals webinar, Black feminists are capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.
—Brea Baker, refinery29.com, 6 Nov. 2023
Online, posts that refer to the #MeToo movement are deleted, and nationalist bloggers attack feminists with a public presence as foreign agents.
—Kanis Leung, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 Oct. 2023
The Sisterhood was a group of these and other Black feminists who met once a month in the late ’70s.
—Boris Kachka, Los Angeles Times, 1 Nov. 2023
Their tense day-to-day life on the farm is turned upside down when Laura’s mother, Solange (Deneuve), an eccentric French feminist, shows up unannounced.
—Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 30 Oct. 2023
On Wednesday, the Tribune, quoting two of Russo’s associates, reported that Russo has used anonymous social media accounts to praise Fuentes and rail against immigration, feminists, the LGBTQ community and Black people.
Texans for Strong Borders hasn’t hidden its views.
—Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC News, 26 Oct. 2023
Courtesy Susan Levinstein Prominent U.S. feminist Prof. Carol Gilligan, who has supported peace work in Israel for decades, knows Silver well and agrees.
—TIME, 18 Oct. 2023
These disparities galvanized Chicana feminists into creative writing and artistic expression that dismantled dominant themes reinforcing misogyny.
—Sarah Quiñones Wolfson, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2023
Adjective
Foundation Black feminist texts like the Combahee River Collective Statement, published in 1977, affirm a politic driven by Black women who know white supremacy and patriarchy’s violence first-hand.
—Brea Baker, refinery29.com, 6 Nov. 2023
Wound boldly tells the story of a young lesbian poet at a moment in which feminist and LGBTQ+ rights activists like Yulia Tsvetkova are being tried in Russian courts, mixing the narrator’s all-encompassing grief with the multifaceted beauty of the everyday world.
—Emma Specter, Vogue, 3 Nov. 2023
The feminist artist Judy Chicago has her first major New York survey ever at the New Museum.
—Elizabeth Paton, New York Times, 16 Nov. 2023
However, on a deeper level lies an even more subversive feminist statement, perhaps.
—Jamie Bryan, Rolling Stone, 16 Nov. 2023
The actor’s performance as Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who became a feminist icon and human rights activist, earned critical praise and struck a chord with French audiences, becoming one of the highest-grossing French films of 2022.
—Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 14 Nov. 2023
China’s feminist movement has grown stronger as more women enter the workforce — the number of women employed in urban China has increased almost 40% in the last 10 years.
—Murphy Zhao, NBC News, 11 Nov. 2023
Lost in the decades since has been her bravery in choosing to stake it all on a film that was unabashedly feminist and Jewish.
—Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 7 Nov. 2023
The touchstone characters, all sensationally realized — Teal Wicks as a White patrician undergoing a feminist awakening; Bobby Smith as a Jewish immigrant with a gift for entrepreneurship; Awa Sal Secka as a Black woman of infinite devotion — animate those cogs hearteningly.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 6 Nov. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'feminist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Phrases Containing feminist
Dictionary Entries Near feminist
Cite this Entry
“Feminist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feminist. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.
Copy Citation
More from Merriam-Webster on feminist
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for feminist
Nglish: Translation of feminist for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of feminist for Arabic Speakers
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share