of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change.
a revolutionary junta.
radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure, principles, etc..
a revolutionary discovery.
(initial capital letter) of or relating to the American Revolution or to the period contemporaneous with it in U.S. history.
Revolutionary heroes; Revolutionary weapons.
relating to or characteristic of a revolution
advocating or engaged in revolution
radically new or different
a revolutionary method of making plastics
rotating or revolving
of or relating to the conflict or period of the War of American Independence (1775–83)
of or relating to any of various other Revolutions, esp the Russian Revolution (1917) or the French Revolution (1789)
First recorded in 1765–75; revolution + -ary
A revolutionary person fearlessly advocates radical change. Revolutionary people and ideas challenge the status quo and might be violent or willing to upset the natural order to achieve their goals. Like the word revolve, it's all about turning things around. Revolutionary leaders want to change the world by any means necessary. Before he was the coolest face on a T-shirt, Che Guevara was ready to die for change in South America (and in fact, he did). You don't need to be violent to be revolutionary, just ask Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther King. You don't even need to be political. Alexander McQueen, John Lennon, and Picasso could tell you that.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The assemblage turned the damaging caricature into a revolutionary hero, and made Saar a star of the Black Arts movement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
So yes, that sport you played in the school playground was slyly, quietly revolutionary.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The revolutionary faithful have embraced these tests time and time again.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Gomez meanwhile said that while Maradona was seen as a revolutionary who confronted FIFA's power, current narratives perceive Messi as FIFA's "golden boy."
From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026
By this standard, Jefferson was a more reliable colleague than staunch Federalists who had been reluctant or merely peripheral participants in the climactic phase of the revolutionary drama.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
The US military said this was "a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours", using an acronym for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
The biggest question concerns the armed forces, particularly the Revolutionary Guards.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
In the Strait of Hormuz, meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that two tankers attempting to transit the strait "were hit by explosions, resulting in massive fires that brought them to a standstill".
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Other proposals for a temporary ceasefire were also presented to Iran in recent days, but Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hasn’t responded to them, some of the mediators said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
“Oh, oh, I know, maybe make a time line? Like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Louisiana Purchase, and Westward Expansion.”
From "Towers Falling" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The private sector exists somewhere out there—the source of all that money—but its customs are foreign to the weirdo revolutionaries who populate the world Ms. Barker once made her career in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
"They'd love to humiliate the Castros and get one of the original revolutionaries from 1959 behind bars. But the strategic value of that is questionable."
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
After starring in the Oscar-winning “One Battle After Another” as the daughter of revolutionaries, Chase Infiniti is poised to lead another revolution in “The Testaments.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
At this year's awards, held on March 15, Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" -- a wild tale of leftist revolutionaries, white supremacists and immigrant detention centers -- was crowned as best picture.
From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026
We were not yet at the point where we were open revolutionaries, overtly fighting the system no matter what the cost.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
