| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
communism (ˈkɒmjʊˌnɪzəm) ![]() | |
| —n | |
| 1. | advocacy of a classless society in which private ownership has been abolished and the means of production and subsistence belong to the community |
| 2. | any social, economic, or political movement or doctrine aimed at achieving such a society |
| 3. | (usually capital) Marxism Marxism-Leninism See also socialism a political movement based upon the writings of Marx that considers history in terms of class conflict and revolutionary struggle, resulting eventually in the victory of the proletariat and the establishment of a socialist order based on public ownership of the means of production |
| 4. | (usually capital) a social order or system of government established by a ruling Communist Party, esp in the former Soviet Union |
| 5. | chiefly (US) (often capital) any leftist political activity or thought, esp when considered to be subversive |
| 6. | communal living; communalism |
| [C19: from French communisme, from commun | |
An economic and social system envisioned by the nineteenth-century German scholar Karl Marx. In theory, under communism, all means of production are owned in common, rather than by individuals (see Marxism and Marxism-Leninism). In practice, a single authoritarian party controls both the political and economic systems. In the twentieth century, communism was associated with the economic and political systems of China and the Soviet Union and of the satellites of the Soviet Union. (Compare capitalism and socialism.)