Bolshevik
Americannoun
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Bolsheviks,
plural
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Bolsheviki
plural
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(in Russia)
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a member of the more radical majority of the Social Democratic Party, 1903–17, advocating immediate and forceful seizure of power by the proletariat.
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(after 1918) a member of the Russian Communist Party.
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(loosely) a member of any Communist party.
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(often lowercase) a contemptuous term used to refer to an extreme radical or revolutionary.
noun
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(formerly) a Russian Communist Compare Menshevik
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any Communist
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humorous (often not capital) any political radical, esp a revolutionary
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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Bolshevismnoun
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anti-Bolsheviknoun
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non-Bolsheviknoun
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Bolshevistadjective
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Bolshevisticadjective
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pro-Bolshevikadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Bolshevik
1915–20; < Russian bolʾshevík, equivalent to bólʾsh ( iĭ ) larger, greater (comparative of bolʾshóĭ large; compare bolʾshinstvó majority) + -evik, variant of -ovik noun suffix; cf. Menshevik
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He points out that Russia virtually disintegrated twice in the 20th century, once after the Bolshevik Revolution and again after the Cold War, only to claw its way back.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
In the years after Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, many Russian Jews supported and participated in the country that became known as the Soviet Union.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2024
They married on 25 October 1980, which was, Su was fond of pointing out, the anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution.
From BBC ● May 18, 2024
Titled The Snow Forest, the story revolves around a Russian family who escapes early Bolshevik Russia to live in decadeslong seclusion in remote Siberia.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2023
Around her, the Red Army of Lenin’s Bolshevik Party was fighting to crush opposition groups that sprang up after the fall of the Russian Empire.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
To forestall the Bolsheviki, he made available for famed oldtime anti-Tsarist martyrs, a million dollars of his personal fortune.
From Time Magazine Archive
Two prominent Bolsheviki are now wintering on the Russian Riviera.
From Time Magazine Archive
These latter remarks presumably referred to the fact that in 1919-20 the U. S. nation engaged in a widespread Radical-hunt, and "Bolsheviki" became a common epithet for one small boy to hurl at another.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Princess Dagmar married Alexander III, becoming Tsarina of All the Russias, gave birth to the last Tsar Nicholas II, escaped the Bolsheviki, and now resides once more at Copenhagen.
From Time Magazine Archive
Here the Bolsheviki did not gain control, though they continued the same agitation which had been carried on up in Petrograd for so many months.
In June 1918 the Bolsheviks nationalized the oil industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
"In history last year we did the Bolsheviks and Nazi Germany, and then you can sort of forget about that and then focus in on what we're doing this year," Ailbhe said.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
Leadership values change, but being placed under permanent house arrest by the Bolsheviks at the luxury Hotel Metropol in “A Gentleman in Moscow” doesn’t stop Alexander from dressing the aristocratic part.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2024
The gold was confiscated after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in 1917.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
The Bolsheviks were led by Vladimir Lenin, a man of bold and energetic ideals who had been urging revolution for more than twenty years.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
