Meanings
- Used to urge someone to examine their own speech and actions for bias or presumption due to social privilege and to curb or check any such bias or presumption.
The idea that the dominant lack the tools to recognize their role in systems of oppression is currently in the cultural ascendant. It underpins the instruction to ‘check your privilege’.
2017, Clare Chambers, “Ideology and Normativity”, in Aristotelian Society, →DOI1 more example
Although many privileged groups may recognize the disadvantage of another group, for instance the underrepresentation of individuals from working-class backgrounds in elite occupations such as law and banking, they may not recognize or accept their own “over-privilege.” The objective of such training would be to get advantaged employees to check their power and privilege, and reflect on this alongside other components of socioeconomic inequality, such as race, gender, faith, and sexuality.
2017, “Integrating Talent and Diversity Management”, in The Oxford Handbook of Talent Management, Oxford University Press, →DOI
Translations
Finnish tarkista etuoikeutesi
- tarkista etuoikeutesiused to urge someone to examine their speech and actions
Cite this entry
check your privilege. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/check%20your%20privilege
“check your privilege.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/check%20your%20privilege. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “check your privilege,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/check%20your%20privilege.
Source: check your privilege on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.