The word “race” gained different meanings throughout time. Although it fell into disuse around the middle of the 20th century, it made a comeback among the advocates of differentialist antiracism. The article studies the trajectory of the word in Belgian antiracist movements between 2017 and 2021, in order to understand how the lexeme could be rehabilitated in spite of its turbulent history. Drawing on previous political lexicology research, the authors observe the discursive process of redefinition and reconfiguration of the meaning of this controversial and hyper-polysemous word. The results show that the word fluctuates between an academic usage, where race is an ongoing social category that has concrete effects despite its discursive and scientific deconstruction, and an activist usage where social categorisation shifts towards group designation.