Word
feminism
Phoneticsfem·i·nism
US/ˈfɛmɪˌnɪzəm/
UK/fˈɛmɪnˌɪzəm/
Definitions
01social/political movement
n. the belief that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men, and the organized effort to reach that goal.
n. the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. Uncountable in its general sense; countable when referring to specific historical waves or schools of thought.
“Feminism has changed how society views work and family life over the last century.”
“The rise of intersectional feminism has highlighted how race, class, and gender overlap to create unique experiences of discrimination.”
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02femininity
n. an old-fashioned word for the quality of being feminine or having female characteristics.
n. the state or quality of being feminine. This sense is largely obsolete in modern discourse, having been replaced by 'femininity'.
“In the old book, the author praised the lady for her grace and feminism.”
“Nineteenth-century texts occasionally use feminism to describe a woman's physical appearance rather than her political convictions.”
Archaic
Teaching tip
This sense is archaic; modern speakers exclusively use 'feminism' to refer to the political and social movement.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Real-World Examples
“I have always subscribed to the idea that feminism, in its purest form, is about choice.” “One in four teenage boys agreed that feminism should be resisted with violence.” Etymology
From French féminisme circa 1837, ultimately from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina (“woman”). First recorded in English in 1851, originally meaning "the state of being feminine." Sense of "advocacy of women's rights" is from 1895.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.