suffragette

[suhf-ruh-jet]

noun

1. a female advocate of the right of women to vote, especially one who participated in protests in the United Kingdom in the early 20th century.

suffragette

/ ˌsʌfrəˈdʒɛt /

noun

1. a female advocate of the extension of the franchise to women, esp a militant one, as in Britain at the beginning of the 20th century

suffragette

1. A suffragist. Today, the term suffragette is often considered demeaning.

Gender Note

See -ette.

Other Word Forms

• suffragettism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of suffragette¹

First recorded in 1900–05; suffrage + -ette

Word History and Origins

Origin of suffragette¹

C20: from _suffrag ( _e ) + _-ette

Example Sentences

She has visited women's refuges, challenged the taboos surrounding domestic abuse and at a reception for International Women's Day held up stones that in 1914 been thrown by suffragettes to break windows in Buckingham Palace.

From BBC

However she had also been drawn to the suffragette movement at a young age.

From BBC

Christina Broom, one of Britain’s first female press photographers, recorded the burgeoning suffragette movement in the early 1900s.

From BBC

To paraphrase the suffragettes: We may love roses, but we also need bread.

From Los Angeles Times

When the suffragettes were fighting for the right to vote, the women were not really allowed to drive carriages.

From Salon

When To Use

What is a suffragette?

A suffragette refers to a woman who advocates for women’s right to vote. This term especially applies to women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the U.S. and U.K.