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

Antifa activism traces its roots to anti-racist efforts aimed at opposing the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups, according to a June 2020 report from the Congressional Research Service. —Billal Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025

Schwerner was fated to go down in American history as one of the three Civil Rights workers murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in 1964. —Matthew Carey, Deadline, 15 Oct. 2025

His policies fueled the social climate of the 1910s and 1920s, decades marked by the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan across the nation, widespread racial violence, and the destruction of Black communities, such as the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. —Time, 14 Oct. 2025

Brooks posted anti-white and anti-police content on social media, comparing police officers to Ku Klux Klan members and advocating violence against white people. —Mia Cathell, The Washington Examiner, 22 Sep. 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