communist
[kom-yuh-nist]
- (initial capital letter) a member of the Communist Party or movement.
- an advocate of communism.
- a person who is regarded as supporting politically leftist or subversive causes.
- (usually initial capital letter) a Communard.
- (initial capital letter) of or relating to the Communist Party or to Communism.
- pertaining to communists or communism.
Origin of communist
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for communist
Contemporary Examples
When communism was a threat, it was construed as a communist plot.
The Communist Party of China gets a bad rap for cracking down on religion.
Other communist countries that withdrew their films and delegates included East Germany, Cuba, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.
The ISI came to the CIA for assistance in fostering a revolt that had developed in the Afghan countryside against Communist rule.
The progressive Cohen even sarcastically joked that another congressman was “a communist just like me.”
Historical Examples
Godwin was a communist, and so, in some degree, were most of his friends.
Shelley, Godwin and Their CircleH. N. Brailsford
At Paris, later on, he took part in the Communist rising, and was condemned to death.
A Zola DictionaryJ. G. Patterson
Introduction to the Communist Manifesto (English edition, 1888).
SocialismJohn Spargo
It is inaccurate to refer to the eastern part of Germany as "communist Germany."
The Invisible GovernmentDan Smoot
The Foreign Policy Association is not a communist organization.
The Invisible GovernmentDan Smoot
communist
- a supporter of any form of communism
- (often capital) a supporter of Communism or a Communist movement or state
- (often capital) a member of a Communist party
- (often capital) US any person holding left-wing views, esp when considered subversive
- a person who practises communal living; communalist
- another name for Communard
- of, characterized by, favouring, or relating to communism; communistic
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for communist
1841, as both a noun and adjective, from French communiste (see communism). First attested in writing by John Goodwin Barmby (1820-1881), British Owenite and utopian socialist who founded the London Communist Propaganda Society in 1841. Main modern sense emerged after publication of Communist Manifesto ("Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei") in 1848. Shortened form Commie attested from 1940. Related: Communistic.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
communist
A supporter of communism.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.