feminist

[ fem-uh-nist ]

adjective

1. advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men.

noun

1. an advocate of such rights.

ˈfeminist

/ ˈfɛmɪnɪst /

noun

1. a person who advocates equal rights for women

adjective

1. of, relating to, or advocating feminism

Other Words From

• anti·femi·nist noun adjective
• anti·femi·nistic adjective
• non·femi·nist adjective noun
• pro·femi·nist noun adjective
• un·femi·nist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of feminist¹

First recorded in 1850–55 (probably in the current sense, but possibly in the sense “feminine, womanly”); from Latin fēmina “woman” + -ist ( def )

Example Sentences

In 2015, Australian director Jocelyn Moorhouse topped the Year In Review list with “The Dressmaker,” her delightful feminist take on the spaghetti Western.

From Washington Blade

As one New Hampshire activist — a lifelong feminist — told me in early 2017, “Based on what happened with Hillary, I think we now need to nominate a man.”

From FiveThirtyEight

On the last Friday in February, Cynthia Pong, a former public defender turned self-described feminist career coach, stood before a group of some 100 women gathered at LinkedIn’s New York headquarters in the Empire State building.

From Quartz

Andersonville is also home to Women and Children First, one of the largest feminist bookstores in the United States.

From No Straight News

Mexico’s feminist mobilizations continued the next day, March 9, with a women’s strike called “A Day Without Us.”

From No Straight News

We just saw an edit of one called, “Doug Becomes A Feminist,” and I just really enjoyed watching it.

From The Daily Beast

The feminist movement has encouraged women that they can initiate romantic relationships, too.

From The Daily Beast

It might be the most powerful affirmation, and perhaps even a feminist or political statement, from any public person this year.

From The Daily Beast

It was fearless and raunchy and fun and ridiculous and weird and feminist and powerful.

From The Daily Beast

But it is particularly galling to watch the feminist superhero be treated in such a way.

From The Daily Beast

"Margaret Fuller's father was thirty-two when she was born," writes Katharine Anthony in her biography of the great feminist.

From Project Gutenberg

I know a certain ardent feminist, who is all for late marriage for women, and abhors my ideas on this subject.

From Project Gutenberg

Oh yes, Amory knew—any feminist knows—the toils men impose on women when they talk about Chivalry!

From Project Gutenberg

He would have attached a drapery business to the Royal Standard; but the feminist picture did even better.

From Project Gutenberg

But the misogynism of Strindberg was something far more than a merely intellectual appreciation of the Anti-Feminist standpoint.

From Project Gutenberg