bolsheviki

noun, plural Bol·she·viks, Bol·she·vik·i

a member of the more radical majority of the Social Democratic party, 1903–17, advocating immediate and forceful seizure of power by the proletariat.

(after 1918) a member of the Russian Communist party.

(loosely) a member of any Communist party.

Disparaging. an extreme political radical; revolutionary or anarchist.

Also, bol·she·vik.

Origin:
1915–20; < Russian bolʾshevík, equivalent to bólʾsh(iĭ) larger, greater (comparative of bolʾshóĭ large; compare bolʾshinstvó majority) + -evik, variant of -ovik noun suffix; cf. Menshevik

Related forms

an·ti-Bol·she·vik, noun, adjective

non-Bol·she·vik, noun

pro-Bol·she·vik, adjective, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

Bolshevik (ˈbɒlʃɪvɪk)

—n , pl -viks, -viki
1.	Compare Menshevik (formerly) a Russian Communist
2.	any Communist
3.	jocular, derogatory (often not capital) any political radical, esp a revolutionary

[C20: from Russian Bol'shevik majority, from bol'shoi great; from the fact that this group formed a majority of the Russian Social Democratic Party in 1903]

'Bolshevism

—n

'Bolshevist

—*adj*, —n

Bolshe'vistic

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

Bolshevik

1917, from Rus. bol'shiy "greater," comp. of adj. bol'shoy "big, great" (cf. Bolshoi Ballet), from O.C.S. boljiji "larger," from PIE base *bel- "strong" (cf. Skt. balam "strength, force," Gk. beltion "better," Phrygian balaios "big, fast," O.Ir. odbal "strong," Welsh balch "proud;" M.Du., Low Ger., Fris.

pal "strong, firm"). It was the faction of the Russian Social Democratic Worker's Party after a split in 1903 that was either larger or more extreme (or both) than the Mensheviks (from Rus. men'shij "less"); after they seized power in 1917, applied generally to Rus. communists. Bolshevism is recorded from 1917.

Matching Quote

"By the way—about Bolshevism: one has to remember that all that is published in the press is propaganda, that the Bolsheviki are the moderate social-revolutionaries, a political party, and the Soviets are a system of government based on the idea of "pure democracy" (Mso called in the textbooks on gov't) that every man shall take direct part in the government of the country—which is arrived at by industrial representation through the heirarchy of soviets, and that much the same system would be in vogue in America—(geographical instead of industrial units) if Hamilton and the rest had taken the New England town-meeting as the unit of government instead of importing Montesquieu's ideas. It's silly to idealize things in Russia, but it is criminal to condemn them unheard."

-John Dos Passos

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