African American
Americannoun
adjective
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of or relating to African Americans.
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African-American, occurring between the United States and Africa.
Several international charities are promoting African-American cooperation in expanding access to safe drinking water.
noun
adjective
Usage
During the 1980s, many Americans sought to display pride in their immigrant origins. Linguistically, this brought about a brief period of short-form hyphenated designations, like Italo-Americans and Greco-Americans. The Black community also embraced the existing term Afro-American, a label that emphasized geographical or ethnic heritage over skin color. The related label, African American, also saw an increase in use among activists in the 1970s and 1980s. African American was even more widely adopted in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s after high-profile Black leaders advocated for it, arguing, as Jesse Jackson did, that the term brought “proper historical context” and had “cultural integrity.” See Black 1.
This is the currently preferred term in the US for people of African ancestry
Etymology
Origin of African American
An Americanism dating back to 1780–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"The reason it's important on the Democratic side is that usually slightly over half of the electorate in the South Carolina Democratic primary is African American," he said.
From Barron's
Sickle cell disease occurs in about one out of every 365 Black or African American births.
From Los Angeles Times
African Americans and immigrants also helped create the cowboy tradition.
From Los Angeles Times
The civil rights activist and organizer, who died on Feb. 17, 2026, helped pave the way for Barack Obama’s election a generation later as the nation’s first – and so far only – African American president.
From Salon
Her dioramas, sculptures and large-scale multimedia installations explore the legacy of American slavery, confront racial injustice and celebrate the strength and resiliency of African American women.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
