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• revolutionary
  revolutionary

  adjective

  of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change.
• Revolutionary
  Revolutionary

  adjective

  of or relating to the conflict or period of the War of American Independence (1775–83)

revolutionary

American  

[rev-uh-loo-shuh-ner-ee] / ˌrɛv əˈlu ʃəˌnɛr i /

adjective

1. of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change.

   a revolutionary junta.

2. radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure, principles, etc..

   a revolutionary discovery.

   Synonyms:

   unorthodox, drastic, novel, unprecedented

3. (initial capital letter) of or relating to the American Revolution or to the period contemporaneous with it in U.S. history.

   Revolutionary heroes; Revolutionary weapons.

4. revolving.

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noun

• revolutionaries
  plural

1. a revolutionist.

revolutionary ¹ British  

/ ˌrɛvəˈluːʃənərɪ /

noun

1. a person who advocates or engages in revolution

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adjective

1. relating to or characteristic of a revolution

2. advocating or engaged in revolution

3. radically new or different

   a revolutionary method of making plastics

4. rotating or revolving

Revolutionary ² British  

/ ˌrɛvəˈluːʃənərɪ /

adjective

1. of or relating to the conflict or period of the War of American Independence (1775–83)

2. of or relating to any of various other Revolutions, esp the Russian Revolution (1917) or the French Revolution (1789)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antirevolutionary
  noun
• revolutionariness
  noun
• nonrevolutionary
  adjective
• post-Revolutionary
  adjective
• prerevolutionary
  adjective
• prorevolutionary
  adjective
• semirevolutionary
  adjective
• ultrarevolutionary
  adjective
• unrevolutionary
  adjective
• revolutionarily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• revolutionaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of revolutionary

First recorded in 1765–75; revolution + -ary

Explanation

A revolutionary person fearlessly advocates radical change. Revolutionary people and ideas challenge the status quo and might be violent or willing to upset the natural order to achieve their goals. Like the word revolve, it's all about turning things around. Revolutionary leaders want to change the world by any means necessary. Before he was the coolest face on a T-shirt, Che Guevara was ready to die for change in South America (and in fact, he did). You don't need to be violent to be revolutionary, just ask Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther King. You don't even need to be political. Alexander McQueen, John Lennon, and Picasso could tell you that.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

revolutionary Revolutionary revolutionaries

The breakthrough of talking pictures introduced the voiceover narration—a revolutionary development that allowed for further context to be added to historical footage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Newchapel Observatory in Stoke-on-Trent was considered to be revolutionary when it was built in the 1960s by four amateur astronomers.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

The 54-year-old has spent years collecting revolutionary memorabilia and reveres Castro as "the master."

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

For those who have been living paycheck to paycheck forever and building up credit card debt when they get behind, the difference can be revolutionary.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

The first answer is that Copernicus himself was less of a revolutionary than is commonly supposed.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

“We took full advantage of the ceasefire period,” Revolutionary Guard spokesman Brig.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

Mohsen Rezaei, who led the Revolutionary Guard during the war with Iraq in the 1980s, was named secretary of Iran’s top decision-making body, the Supreme National Security Council, where he will be Khamenei’s representative.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

After commanding the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, Washington voluntarily surrendered his military commission to Congress rather than retaining control of the army.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Its original purpose was to generate revenue for the Revolutionary Armed Forces and bring in hard currency during the island's "Special Period," a profound crisis in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

Named for Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion, the town’s claim to fame when I lived there was Marion College, a two-year Lutheran women’s college.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

“O Canada” is as soaring as “God Save the King,” while revolutionaries across the world have chanted “La Marseillaise” for centuries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

"They'd love to humiliate the Castros and get one of the original revolutionaries from 1959 behind bars. But the strategic value of that is questionable."

From BBC ● May 21, 2026

The first is that nobody should call our food system “broken,” the all-purpose label that armchair revolutionaries slap on any aspect of the messy human condition that doesn’t measure up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

At this year's awards, held on March 15, Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" -- a wild tale of leftist revolutionaries, white supremacists and immigrant detention centers -- was crowned as best picture.

From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026

No, people don’t, because they’re not revolutionaries like us.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

Related Words

• contemporary
• innovative
• modern
• radical