Bolshevik

or bol·she·vik

[ bohl-shuh-vik, bol-; Russian buhl-shi-vyeek ]

noun,plural Bol·she·viks, Bol·she·vik·i [bohl-shuh-vik-ee, -vee-kee; Russian buhl-shi-vyi-kyee]. /ˈboʊl ʃəˌvɪk i, -ˌvi ki; Russian bəl ʃɪ vyɪˈkyi/.
  1. (in Russia)

    • 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.

  2. (loosely) a member of any Communist party.

  1. (often lowercase)Disparaging. a contemptuous term used to refer to an extreme radical or revolutionary.

Origin of Bolshevik

1
1915–20; <Russian bolʾshevík, equivalent to bólʾsh() larger, greater (comparative of bolʾshóĭ large; compare bolʾshinstvó majority) + -evik, variant of -ovik noun suffix; cf. Menshevik

word story For Bolshevik

When Bolshevik is used to refer to an extreme radical, it implies that such a person has a strongly felt subversive or combative ideology counter to the status quo. The 20-century poets T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound were called literary Bolsheviks by a writer in a London newspaper.

Other words from Bolshevik

  • 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 Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for Bolshevik

Bolshevik

/ (ˈbɒlʃɪvɪk) /


nounplural -viks or -viki (-ˈviːkɪ)
  1. (formerly) a Russian Communist: Compare Menshevik

  2. any Communist

  1. (often not capital) jocular, derogatory any political radical, esp a revolutionary

Origin of Bolshevik

1
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

Derived forms of Bolshevik

  • Bolshevism, noun
  • Bolshevist, adjective, noun
  • Bolshevistic, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012