Word Study
Bolshevik
CIDE DICTIONARY
Bolshevik, n. [Russian bol'shevik fr. bol'she more + -vik, a person, i.e. one who is a member of the majority (in the revolutionary Russian parliament).].
- a member of the extreme left wing of the Social Democratic Party that seized power in Russia in 1917 after the Russian October Revolution, and advocated rule by the proletariat and state ownership of property."Actually in the minority, this branch seized the opportunity, when the moderate group walked out, to proclaim themselves a majority and form a government. They prevailed in the subsequent civil war." [PJC]
- same as communist, especially used of Russian communists. [PJC]
- anyone with communist leanings or sympathies; -- used very loosely in a derogatory sense by some people with economically conservative views. [PJC]
Bolshevik, adj.
of or pertaining to Bolsheviks or bolshevism. [WordNet 1.5]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
Bolshevik, n. & adj.
--n.
1 hist. a member of the radical faction of the Russian socialist party, which became the communist party in 1918.
2 a Russian communist.
3 (in general use) any revolutionary socialist.
--adj.
1 of, relating to, or characteristic of the Bolsheviks.
2 communist.
--n.
1 hist. a member of the radical faction of the Russian socialist party, which became the communist party in 1918.
2 a Russian communist.
3 (in general use) any revolutionary socialist.
--adj.
1 of, relating to, or characteristic of the Bolsheviks.
2 communist.
Derivative
Bolshevism n. Bolshevist n.
Etymology
Russ., = a member of the majority, one who (in 1903) favoured extreme measures, f. bol' she greater
THESAURUS
Bolshevik
Bolshevist, Bolshie, Carbonarist, Carbonaro, Castroist, Castroite, Charley, Communist, Communist sympathizer, Cong, Fenian, Guevarist, Jacobin, Leninist, Maoist, Marxist, Marxist-Leninist, Mau-Mau, Puritan, Red, Red Republican, Roundhead, Sinn Feiner, Stalinist, Titoist, Trotskyist, Trotskyite, VC, Vietcong, Wobbly, Yankee, Yankee Doodle, anarch, anarchist, anarcho-syndicalist, avowed Communist, bolshie, bonnet rouge, commie, comrade, criminal syndicalist, extreme left-winger, extremist, fellow traveler, left-wing extremist, lunatic fringe, mild radical, nihilist, parlor Bolshevik, parlor pink, pink, pinko, radical, rebel, red, revisionist, revolutionary, revolutionary junta, revolutioner, revolutionist, revolutionizer, sans-culotte, sans-culottist, subversive, syndicalist, terrorist, ultra, ultraist, yippieFor further exploring for "Bolshevik" in Webster Dictionary Online