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gulag

(go̵̅o̅′läg′, -lag′)

noun

the system of prisons and labor camps, esp. for political prisoners, in the Soviet Union: with the
such a prison or forced-labor camp, as in the Soviet Union
any place or situation regarded as like such a prison

Origin: < Russ acronym for G(lavnoe) u(pravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh) lag(erei), Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps: term popularized by The Gulag Archipelago by A. Aleksandr (Isayevich) Solzhenitsyn

See gulag in American Heritage Dictionary 4

also Gu·lag

noun

A network of forced labor camps in the former Soviet Union.
A forced labor camp or prison, especially for political dissidents.
A place or situation of great suffering and hardship, likened to the atmosphere in a prison system or a forced labor camp.

Origin:

Origin: Russian Gulag

Origin: , from G(lavnoe) u(pravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh) lag(ereĭ), Chief Administration (of Correctional Labor) Camps

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