Russian

[ruhsh-uhn]

adjective

1. of or relating to Russia, its people, or their language.

noun

1. a native or inhabitant of Russia.

2. a member of a Slavic people, the dominant ethnic group in the Russian Federation, whose historical homeland lies along the upper Volga and Oka rivers and adjacent areas.

3. the Slavic language of this people, written in the Cyrillic alphabet: the official language of Russia or the Russian Federation. Russ, Russ.

4. Informal.,  Russian dressing.

Russian

/ ˈrʌʃən /

noun

1. the official language of Russia: an Indo-European language belonging to the East Slavonic branch

2. the official language of the former Soviet Union

3. a native or inhabitant of Russia

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Russia, its people, or their language

Other Word Forms

• anti-Russian adjective
• half-Russian adjective
• non-Russian adjective
• pro-Russian adjective
• pseudo-Russian adjective
• semi-Russian adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Russian¹

First recorded in 1530–40; from Medieval Latin Russiānus, derivative of Russia, Latinization of Old East Slavic Rusĭ; Russ, Russia, -an

Example Sentences

And Truman did not shrink from building the hydrogen bomb, saying “we have got to have it if only for bargaining purposes with the Russians.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Its website promotes a $14.99 audio series on how “PSYOPs, from Russian troll farms to Chinese cognitive warfare, shape nations, control minds, and influence culture.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Russian saboteurs, disguised as Ukrainian soldiers or civilians, have also strayed beyond the front line to set up booby traps, further blurring the line between civilian areas and the battlefield.

Read more on Barron's

The West is racing to catch up with Russian and Chinese expansion in the Arctic, one of the world’s most contested places, in a new era of geopolitical conflict.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Ukraine has captured an Indian national allegedly fighting for Russian forces, the first known Indian detained in the ongoing war.

Read more on BBC