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:
It ends 80 years later when his grandson Emanuel, the head of the family business, flees the new Bolshevik regime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Sadly, very few of the multitudes of American “advisors” in Russia since the Bolshevik demise acquainted themselves with even the most basic facts of the country whose destiny they propose to shape.
From Slate ● Dec. 23, 2024
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
It marked the Polish defeat of Russian-led Bolshevik forces in 1920.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2023
From the ruins, the Bolshevik Party would become the Communist Party, and Lenin would emerge as the head of a new nation with a new form of government.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
With the probability, amounting almost to a certainty, that Germany will soon join the League of Nations, the Bolsheviki decided that, it was again time to warn Berlin of its folly.
From Time Magazine Archive
M. Kerensky offered to return to Russia and submit to imprisonment if the Bolsheviki would release from prison certain Mensheviki.
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
This at last pushed the Bolsheviki so close to the wall that they began the "Red Terror."
From Time Magazine Archive
But if Lenine was the scholar, the theorist, of the Bolsheviki, the dynamic power was undoubtedly Leon Trotzky.
In June 1918 the Bolsheviks nationalized the oil industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Surviving relatives of Tsar Nicholas II also lived there after fleeing to the UK, following the murder of other family members by Bolsheviks in 1918.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2025
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
This “feverish condition” was ignited in 1917 when a well-organized and militant political party known as the Bolsheviks staged a successful revolution in Russia and took over the government.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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