Meanings
plural hacktivists · alternative hactivist
- A person who engages in hacktivism.
One type of badvocate, sometimes identified as a troll, is a hacktivist..
2014, Deborah Gonzalez, Managing Online Risk: Apps, Mobile, and Social Media Security, page 661 more example
However, there remain many cybersecurity concerns about the railways. For example, and perhaps more pertinently, 'hacktivists' - hackers with a political rather than a financial motive - in Belarus were reported to have taken breached computers that control rail movements in the country in an effort to delay Russian supplies to their front line in the early stages of the war against Ukraine.
2023 March 22, Christian Wolmar, “Cybersecurity concerns highlight a range of potential risks”, in RAIL, number 979, pages 32–33
Origin
Blend of hack + activist, a portmanteau coined in 1994 by a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French hacktiviste
- hacktivistea person who engages in hacktivism
Cite this entry
hacktivist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hacktivist
“hacktivist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hacktivist. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hacktivist,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hacktivist.
Source: hacktivist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.