Hacktivism

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The practice of promoting a political agenda by hacking, especially by defacing or disabling websites. Internet, uncountable

    "Hacktivism is a form of activism for social change that appropriates computers and electronic networks for this purpose. Also called electronic civil disobedience, hacktivism is geared to political ends."

Example

More examples

"Hacktivism is a form of activism for social change that appropriates computers and electronic networks for this purpose. Also called electronic civil disobedience, hacktivism is geared to political ends."

Etymology

Blend of hack + activism, a portmanteau coined in 1994 by a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.