social-justice warrior

Noun

social justice warrior (plural social justice warriors)

1. (neologism) A person who advocates for progressive views or attitudes, principally with regard to social justice.
   • Looking back, I was more of a cop than a social justice warrior, as people on Tumblr had come to think of me.2021 February 25, Liat Kaplan, “I Was Your Fave Is Problematic”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2021
2. (derogatory, neologism) An advocate for social justice views whose actions are deemed overzealous, performative, or insincere.
   • How will your upper class social justice warrior cope with men swearing and pushing each other? Will she faint at the first sight of blood from a split lip? Or will she hike up her skirts, grab a hot soup spoon, and brain the first aggressor she can find?2014, Krista D. Ball, Hustlers, Harlots, and Heroes: A Regency and Steampunk Field Guide, Tyche Books Ltd., →ISBN
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see social justice, warrior; a social justice activist.
   • Conny was a local painter who had achieved modest fame in the Canadian art scene with his experiments in New Age macho realism: the sensitive male writ large as compassionate lover, social justice warrior and loyal son to Mother Earth.1995, Tim Dugdale, I Couldn't Care Less: A Novel, Black Moss Press, →ISBN, page 33