Bolshevik

(bōls̸hə vik′, bäl-)

noun pl. Bolsheviks or Bolsheviki

  1. a member of a majority faction (Bolsheviki) of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party, which formed the Communist Party after seizing power in the 1917 Revolution
  2. a Communist, esp. of the Soviet Union
  3. loosely any radical: hostile usage

Origin: Russ (1903) < bol'she, the larger, majority

adjective

of or like the Bolsheviks or Bolshevism

Related Forms:

See Bolshevik in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun pl. Bol·she·viks or Bol·she·vi·ki (-vēˈkē) In all senses also called Bolshevist.
  1. a. A member of the left-wing majority group of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party that adopted Lenin's theses on party organization in 1903.
    b. A member of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party that seized power in that country in November 1917.
    c. A member of a Marxist-Leninist party or a supporter of one; a Communist.
  2. often bolshevik An extreme radical: a literary bolshevik.

Origin:

Origin: Russian Bol'shevik

Origin: , from bol'she

Origin: , comparative of bol'shoĭ, large; see bel- in Indo-European roots

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Related Forms:

  • Bolˈshe·vikˌ adjective
Word History: The word Bolshevik, an emotionally charged term in English, is derived from an ordinary word in Russian, bol'she, “bigger, more,” the comparative form of bol'shoĭ, “big.” The plural form Bol'sheviki was the name given to the majority faction at the Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party in 1903 (the term is first recorded in English in 1907). The smaller faction was known as Men'sheviki, from men'she, “less, smaller,” the comparative of malyĭ, “little, few.” The Bol'sheviki, who sided with Lenin in the split that followed the Congress, subsequently became the Russian Communist Party. In 1952 the word Bol'shevik was dropped as an official term in the Soviet Union, but it had long since passed into other languages, including English.

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