The practice or movement of using direct action and engagement to create social, political, or environmental change.
From Latin activus (engaged in action) combined with the Germanic suffix -ismus (denoting a system, belief, or movement), creating a German/Scandinavian term that spread to other languages.
Aktivismus burst onto the world stage during the 1960s-70s, and the word itself represents how social movements generate new language—activists needed a term to describe what they were doing, so languages borrowed and adapted 'activism' to match their own structure.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.