white supremacy

noun

1

: the belief that the white race is inherently superior to other races and that white people should have control over people of other races

The alt-right is a reactionary conservative movement. … It is characterized by an embrace of fascism, white supremacy, and misogyny …

—Constance Grady

2

: the social, economic, and political systems that collectively enable white people to maintain power over people of other races

… [William] Kelley turned his considerable intellect and imagination to the question of what it is like to be white in this country, and what it is like, for all Americans, to live under the conditions of white supremacy …

—Kathryn Schulz

Examples of white supremacy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The half-dozen screens punctuating the show with this gesture offer potent and campy but all-too-serious reminders that anger and nostalgia for a world of white supremacy are not dead. —Horace D. Ballard, Artforum, 22 Apr. 2026

South Africa’s system of racial segregation that institutionalized white supremacy was dismantled in 1994. —Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2026

In Conversation Vicky Osterweil explores labor conflict, white supremacy, and how an animator’s strike led to the making of Disney’s Song of the South. —Literary Hub, 14 Apr. 2026

Even as Dhillon tied herself more closely to Trump, however, MAGA’s shift toward explicit white supremacy and Christian nationalism left her footing in the movement less than secure. —Quinta Jurecic, The Atlantic, 13 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1824, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

white supremacy

noun

: the belief that the white race is superior to other races and that white people should have control over people of other races

white supremacist noun