Definition of "Selma"

Selma

/ˈsɛlmə/

proper noun
countable and uncountable, plural Selmas
1. (countable) A female given name.
2. (countable) A surname.
3. A placename
  1. A community in Nova Scotia, Canada.
  2. A village in Graubünden canton, Switzerland.
  3. A place in the United States.
    A city, the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama; named for James Macpherson's Ossianic poem The Songs of Selma.
    A city in Fresno County, California; named for early resident Selma Michelson.
    A city in Texas.
    A town in North Carolina; named for the city in Alabama.
    A town in Indiana.
    A census-designated place in Josephine County, Oregon.
    A census-designated place in Virginia.
    An unincorporated community in Arkansas.
    An unincorporated community in Iowa.
    An unincorporated community in Kansas.
    An unincorporated community in Missouri; named for the place in the Ossian cycle.
    An unincorporated community in Ohio.
noun
plural Selmas
1. (US, politics, figuratively) A confrontation where authorities brutally repress those wanting civil rights, similar to Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama.
  Quotations
  Eventually, our place and response may be viewed as a historic turning point, another Selma for the nation and world.
  2020, Dane Smith, Star Tribune (Minneapolis), "Toward a better patriotism", 3 July 2020
  Shelby County has become the new Selma.
  2015, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Workers World, "Black and Brown unity in Alabama", 24 June 2015
  "I don't know how many Selmas you have in your memory," she said. "I have a lot in mine."
  1986, Daily Sitka Sentinel, Sitka Weekend, p.11, Friday 17 January 1986
  How Many Selmas? Still another city in the south Is learning the hard way that the Negro will settle for nothing less than first class citizenship.
  1965, The Fresno Bee, p.60, Wednesday 21 July 1965