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

The flier, which names the Trinity White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, provides information for joining Klan chapters in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. —Alexandra E. Petri, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2025

His support for segregation gave him a common cause with white supremacist groups, leading him to collaborate with the Ku Klux Klan, a move unpopular with other civil rights leaders of the time. —Brady Knox, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 19 Jan. 2025

For example, Section 241 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code—part of the Ku Klux Klan Acts—criminalizes conspiracies to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate individuals exercising constitutional or federal rights. —Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025

According to letters written by the producers, Seltzer wanted explicitly to make a film that would douse the flames of rising antisemitism being fanned at the time by Henry Ford and the Ku Klux Klan. —Joseph Strauss, Sun Sentinel, 15 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1867, in the meaning defined at sense 2