Word.ws English Dictionary

critical race theory

critical race theory noun: a movement in academia involving the application of critical theory to issues surrounding the interaction between racial dynamics and social and legal power.

Noun

critical race theory (uncountable)

  1. A movement in academia involving the application of critical theory to issues surrounding the interaction between racial dynamics and social and legal power.
    • In short, Critical Race Theory is an intellectual movement that is both particular to our postmodern (and conservative) times and part of a tradition of human resistance and liberation.1995, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement, The New Press, page xi
    • We would signal the specific political and intellectual location of the project through the "critical", the substantive focus through "race", and the desire to develop a coherent account of race and law through the term "theory"... If we were going to give this inchoate thing a name, let it be a...2002, Kimberlé Crenshaw, "The First Decade: Critical Reflections, or 'A Foot in the Closing Door'", in: Francisco Valdes, Jerome Mccristal Culp and Angela Harris (ed.), Crossroads, Directions and A...
    Synonyms:
    CRT

Examples of critical race theory in a sentence

  • If we were going to give this inchoate thing a name, let it be a proper sign on the intellectual landscape: Critical Race Theory.2002, Kimberlé Crenshaw, "The First Decade: Critical Reflections, or 'A Foot in the Closing Door'", in: Francisco Valdes, Jerome Mccristal...
  • The Critical Race Theory (CRT) movement is a collection of activists and scholars interested in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism and power.2012, Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic, Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, New York University Press, page 3:
  • The fight over critical race theory seems, on the surface, further from theological concerns.2021 July 9, Michelle Goldberg, “The Christian Right Is in Decline, and It’s Taking America With It”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
  • The actual critical race theory argues that racism isn’t just what happens when an individual decides to hate a group of people, but rather an ideology that has been embedded in American institutions.2021 November 11, Jay Caspian Kang, “Can We Talk About Critical Race Theory?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Synonyms of critical race theory

Words formed from critical race theory

Questions about critical race theory

What does critical race theory mean?
Critical race theory means a movement in academia involving the application of critical theory to issues surrounding the interaction between racial dynamics and social and legal power.
How do you use critical race theory in a sentence?
If we were going to give this inchoate thing a name, let it be a proper sign on the intellectual landscape: Critical Race Theory.
What part of speech is critical race theory?
Critical race theory is a noun.

Words near critical race theory in the dictionary

  1. critical point
  2. critical point drying
  3. critical points
  4. critical race theorist
  5. critical race theorists
  6. critical race theory
  7. critical rationalism
  8. critical reception
  9. critical receptions
  10. critical Reynolds number
  11. critical Reynolds numbers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: critical race theory (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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