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gulag

American  
[goo-lahg] / ˈgu lɑg /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

  1. the system of forced-labor camps in the Soviet Union.

  2. a Soviet forced-labor camp.

  3. any prison or detention camp, especially for political prisoners.

Gulag British  
/ ˈɡuːlæɡ /

noun

  1. (formerly) the central administrative department of the Soviet security service, established in 1930, responsible for maintaining prisons and forced labour camps

  2. (not capital) any system used to silence dissents

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
gulag Cultural  

  1. A system of prison camps inside the former Soviet Union used for political prisoners. Under Joseph Stalin, millions of prisoners in these camps died from starvation and maltreatment. This system was given worldwide attention in the writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Gulag is an acronym in Russian of the name meaning Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps.

Etymology

Origin of gulag

1970–75; < Russian Gulág, acronym from Glávnoe upravlénie ispravítelʾno-trudovýkh lageréĭ Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps

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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.

Inspired by a novella by Soviet physicist Georgy Demidov, who chronicled his own harrowing experiences in the gulag from the late 1930s until the early 1950s, “Two Prosecutors” unfolds with ominous efficiency.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

As dark as the novel becomes, “the real darkness of the gulag there was so bleak that I had to cut it out,” the author has said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026

The weakness of the regime, to the point that it collapsed like a soggy paper bag, was disguised by the fearsome and repressive gulag it still maintained.

From BBC • Dec. 9, 2024

In July 2022, when Griner was sentenced to her nine-year prison sentence, she was transferred to a repurposed Soviet-era gulag in Mordovia in October.

From Salon • May 3, 2024

Gular suture: the line of division between the gulag or throat and the gene or cheeks.

From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.

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.