Meaning & use
intersectional
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Relating to the interconnected and overlapping nature of social categories such as race, gender, and class, which combine to create distinct forms of discrimination or disadvantage.
See it in a sentence
The panel took an intersectional approach, examining how race and gender shape economic inequality together.
Her research is intersectional, focusing specifically on disabled women of color.
A note on using this word
The term was coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 to describe how overlapping identities produce unique experiences of discrimination not captured by looking at any single category alone.
Another way to use it
2. adjective
Occurring at or relating to a geometric intersection.
Engineers studied the intersectional traffic patterns to redesign the junction.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “intersectional”, then compare your use with the examples above.