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KKK

KKK

37 9.9
A secret group of white people in the American South who used violence to scare and harm Black people
  • noun
  • /keɪ keɪ keɪ/
  • Offensive
: Ku Klux Klan
  • Many activists work to dismantle the legacy of the KKK's hate and violence.
  • KKK members

So, so, so like the KKK has always existed.

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Examples

  • Jim Crow was the law of the land, and the KKK openly terrorized black folks.

    Blog text (9)
  • But his second claim to fame is that he successfully got hundreds of members of the KKK to leave the KKK.

  • Wait, the KKK and the United States Army?

  • The issues around the KKK are far more complicated than that.

    Blog text (2)
  • The KKK doesn't want us to have equal rights, so they are trying to scare us.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • The middle-class black family moves into a small Southern town that is run by the KKK.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • We've already seen this recently with the race riots that swept the country and the rise of the KKK in the southern states.

  • The KKK is racist.

  • Narrator 2: Rosa and her grandparents stood proud as the KKK members rode away.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • The KKK organized a march to promote its racist agenda.

Synonyms

Ku Klux Klan
vsKKK
  • Offensive
36 9.8

A secret group that believes white people are better and uses violence against Black people and other groups

targets Black people but also attacks other groups
Klan
vsKKK
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A secret group of white people in the United States that used violence to harm Black people

focuses on opposing emancipation and suppressing Black people

Surface Forms

KKK singular
KKKs plural

Etymology

KKK is short for Ku Klux Klan, a name made from the Greek kuklos ('circle') and the word clan ('family'), so it originally suggested a 'circle of family'. Today KKK is known as a secret white group that used terror and violence to stop Black people from gaining equal rights.