refusenik

American  

[ri-fyooz-nik] / rɪˈfjuz nɪk /

Or refusnik

noun

Informal.

1. a Soviet citizen, usually Jewish, who was denied permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union.

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refusenik British  

/ rɪˈfjuːznɪk /

noun

1. (formerly) a Jew in the Soviet Union who had been refused permission to emigrate

2. a person who refuses to cooperate with a system or comply with a law because of a moral conviction

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Etymology

Origin of refusenik

1970–75; refuse ¹ + -nik, perhaps translation of Russian otkáznik (unless the Russ word is itself a translation of refusenik )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

refusenik

Of the real-life people in these communities, Watkins says, “It’s really tough. The environment is extreme. There are no amenities. There’s no jobs. ... I think there’s a refusenik quality to them.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

After his 1978 Nobel Prize acceptance speech in Stockholm, he flew directly to Moscow to give a lecture about his findings to a group of refusenik scientists.

From New York Times ● Jan. 22, 2024

The Professor never thought he’d be a refusenik one day too.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 25, 2023

How did Dixie go from being a TikTok refusenik to one of its best known faces?

From The Guardian ● Jun. 6, 2020

Melsor was a moral hero once — he opposed the Soviet regime and became a refusenik — but America has helped him connect to his inner criminal.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2018

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