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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Men·she·vik

Audio Help [men-shuh-vik; Russ. myin-shi-vyeek] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -viks, -vik·i

Audio Help [-vik-ee, -vee-kee; Russ. -vyi-kyee] Pronunciation Key.

a member of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' party in opposition to the Bolsheviks: advocated gradual development of full socialism through parliamentary government and cooperation with bourgeois parties; absorbed into the Communist party formed in 1918.

Also, men·she·vik.

[Origin: 1905–10; < Russ menʾshevík, equiv. to ménʾsh(iĭ) lesser (comp. of málenʾkiĭ small; cf. menʾshinstvó minority) + -evik, var. of -ovik n. suffix

]

—Related forms

Men·she·vism

Audio Help [men-shuh-viz-uh

m] Pronunciation Key, noun

Men·she·vist, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Menshevik

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Men·she·vik Audio Help (měn'shə-vĭk) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. Men·she·viks or Men·she·vi·ki (-vē'kē)
A member of the liberal faction of the Social Democratic Party that struggled against the Bolsheviks before and during the Russian Revolution.

[Russian men'shevik, from men'she, less (from their relegation by Lenin to minority status); see mei-² in Indo-European roots.]

Men'she·vism n., Men'she·vist n.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
menshevik

1917, from Rus. men'shevik, from men'she "lesser" (comp. of malo "little," from PIE base *men- "to lessen, diminish") + -evik "one that is." So called by Lenin because they were a minority in the party. Earlier used in ref. to the minority faction of the Social-Democratic Party, when it split in 1903. Russian pl. mensheviki occasionally was used in Eng.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

menshevik
noun
a Russian member of the liberal minority group that advocated gradual reform and opposed the Bolsheviks before and during the Russian Revolution

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