Meanings
- A United Kingdom-based charity focused on alleviating global poverty and operating a chain of charity shops.
In the town center of the village I live in, there is an Oxfam shop, a Salvation Army shop, a Heart Disease UK shop, and a Cancer Research shop. They sell the usual thrift store stuff of used clothes and books.
2012, Alana Muir, An American Guide to Britishness, page 341 more example
[E]xquisitely torn jeans adorned the 'Hard Times' cover of The Face, while the long macs and second-hand suits of the 'Oxfam brigade', with their doomy Joy Division rock and George Orwell haircuts, made a suitable fanfare for the advent of the dreaded 1984. In one sense Oxfam chic was a lament for the passing of the old working-class certainties […]
1992, Juliet Ash, Elizabeth Wilson, Chic Thrills: A Fashion Reader, page 42
Origin
Syllabic abbreviation of Oxford Committee for Famine Relief: originally the telegraphic address of the organisation.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 樂施會 /乐施会
- 樂施會 /乐施会 (Lèshīhuì)charity
Korean 옥스팜
- 옥스팜 (okseupam)charity
Cite this entry
Oxfam. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Oxfam
“Oxfam.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Oxfam. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Oxfam,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Oxfam.
Source: Oxfam on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.