Quantcast
 
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web
Related Searches
Nearby Words

nomenklatura

 - 2 dictionary results

no⋅men⋅kla⋅tu⋅ra

  [noh-muhn-klah-toor-uh]
–noun, plural -ras.
a select list or class of people from which appointees for top-level government positions are drawn, esp. from a Communist Party.
Use nomenklatura in a Sentence
Origin:
1980–85; < Russ nomenklatúra lit., nomenclature
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To nomenklatura
no·men·kla·tu·ra   (nō'mən-klä-tŏŏr'ə, nô'myěn-klä-tōōr'ä)   
n.  

  1. The system of patronage to senior positions in the bureaucracy of the Soviet Union and some other Communist states, controlled by committees at various levels of the Communist Party.

  2. (used with a pl. verb) The lists of appointees matching the lists of patronage positions in such a system.

  3. (used with a pl. verb) The appointees to these positions: "The . . . nomenklatura are perceived as draft-immune" (Anthony Arnold).

  4. The stratified, privileged class composed of these appointees.


[Russian, from Latin nōmenclātūra, list of names; see nomenclature.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see nomenklatura on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us:
Partner Sites:
ExpediaHotelsHotwireLife123LiveDailyThe Daily BeastUrbanspoonAsk AnswersBloglinesSendori