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

Taking to social media, the 47-year-old uploaded a sketch of a figure wearing a pointed hood, infamously worn by the Ku Klux Klan. —Demicia Inman, VIBE.com, 29 Apr. 2025

The couple who encounter Remmick are members of the Ku Klux Klan, and find Remmick’s lies more convincing than the earnest warnings of the Indigenous hunters. —Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 24 Apr. 2025

And within all of that, the Ku Klux Klan is hunting. —Richard Newby, HollywoodReporter, 22 Apr. 2025

When the film opens, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) have just returned to their rural Mississippi hometown to open a juke joint, one that will serve as Black folks’ musical oasis from a hard life working the cotton fields and avoiding the Ku Klux Klan. —Chris O'Falt, IndieWire, 19 Apr. 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