Bolshevism
Americannoun
-
the doctrines, methods, or procedure of the Bolsheviks.
-
(sometimes lowercase) the principles or practices of ultraradical socialists or political ultraradicals generally.
Other Word Forms
- anti-Bolshevism noun
- non-Bolshevism noun
- pro-Bolshevism noun
Etymology
Origin of Bolshevism
First recorded in 1915–20; Bolshev(ik) + -ism
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.
Jochen Hellbeck is under no doubt that Bolshevism was Hitler’s primary concern and the Soviet Union his principal nemesis.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025
Xenophobia was further exacerbated by the Russian Revolution and the manufactured threat of Bolshevism, or the “Red Menace.”
From The New Yorker • Feb. 4, 2017
Just as many of the Nazis they were dealing with saw the Cold War as part two of their own epic crusade against Bolshevism.
From Salon • Oct. 15, 2015
More important, they seem immune to hermetic ideologies: Bolshevism, Labourism, Islamism, the myths and legends around constitutional Irish nationalism.
From The Guardian • Feb. 7, 2011
These fears were intensified by the Russian revolution of 1917, with its hideous corollary of Bolshevism which definitely triumphed before the close of that year.
From The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy by Stoddard, Lothrop
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.
