feminist

1 of 2

noun

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

He [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

feminist

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adjective

: 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

[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

Examples of feminist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Advertisement Advertisement Women are still more likely than men in heterosexual couples to do the work that never ends—the work that must be re-completed every single day, as Silvia Federici writes, a feminist who founded the Wages for Housework movement in the 1970s. —Katie Gatti Tassin, Time, 10 June 2025

Some of the other feminists who testified in front of Congress, like the researcher Mariana Romero, had been critical of the Socorristas. —Marta Martínez, NPR, 8 June 2025

Adjective

But to that experimental legacy, Ruhl brought her own stylistic rhythms, her own poetic forms, and her own feminist concerns. —Pamela Newton june 24, Literary Hub, 24 June 2025

Ahead of the festival, feminist influencer Abrège Soeu warned that social media posts calling for needle attacks on women attendees had been circulating. —David Matthews, New York Daily News, 24 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1887, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1852, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing feminist

• anti-feminist
• pre-feminist
• trans exclusionary radical feminist