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• soviet
  soviet

  noun

  (in the Soviet Union).
• Soviet
  Soviet

  adjective

  of, characteristic of, or relating to the former Soviet Union, its people, or its government

soviet

American  

[soh-vee-et, -it, soh-vee-et] / ˈsoʊ viˌɛt, -ɪt, ˌsoʊ viˈɛt /

noun

• soviets
  plural

1. (in the Soviet Union).

   1. (before the revolution) any governmental council.

   2. (after the revolution) a local council, originally elected only by manual workers, with certain powers of local administration.

   3. (after the revolution) a higher council elected by a local council, being part of a hierarchy of soviets culminating in the Supreme Soviet.

2. any similar council or assembly connected with a socialistic governmental system elsewhere.

3. (initial capital letter) Often Soviets. a governing official or person living in the Soviet Union.

   The Soviets have denied our charge.

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adjective

1. of or relating to a soviet.

2. (initial capital letter) of the Soviet Union.

   a Soviet statesman.

soviet ¹ British  

/ ˈsəʊvɪət, ˈsɒv- /

noun

1. (in the former Soviet Union) an elected government council at the local, regional, and national levels, which culminated in the Supreme Soviet

2. (in prerevolutionary Russia) a local revolutionary council

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adjective

1. of or relating to a soviet

Soviet ² British  

/ ˈsəʊvɪət, ˈsɒv- /

adjective

1. of, characteristic of, or relating to the former Soviet Union, its people, or its government

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• anti-Soviet
  noun
• sovietdom
  noun
• pro-Soviet
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• soviets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of soviet

First recorded in 1915–20; from Russian sovét “council, counsel, advice,” Old Russian, Old Church Slavonic sŭvětŭ, equivalent to sŭ- “together, with” + větŭ “counsel”; loan translation of Greek symboúlion

Explanation

In the former U.S.S.R., a soviet was an elected legislative body, similar to a parliament. Soviet is from the Russian sovet, "governing council," and its Greek source, symboulion, "council of advisors." After the Russian Revolution, the term soviet was used for local governments elected by workers, as well as the higher councils that those local soviets elected in turn. Each separate republic making up the Soviet Union had its own governing soviet, and together they formed the Supreme Soviet, the highest legislative body in the country.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

soviet Soviet soviets

“China respects the sovereign status of the former soviet countries after the dissolution of the Soviet Union,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 24, 2023

Others relate to soviet spy George Blake’s audacious 1966 escape from Wormwood Scrubs using a knitting needle ladder.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 2, 2019

Bavaria proclaimed itself a socialist republic; a soviet took over in Cologne.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 29, 2018

Then they head the rumble of soviet tanks at the gates of the camp.

From BBC ● May 6, 2015

The Soviet Complex with its ultimate dream of a soviet world.

From Border, Breed Nor Birth by Mack Reynolds

The Second World War, meanwhile, inflicted its own deadly toll -- the Soviet Union suffered the highest casualties, with 20-27 million people estimated to have died, both civilians and military.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

There is not a word about those arrested, executed or imprisoned in the gulag, the Soviet Union's vast network of prison labour camps.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

The antiplague institute in Irkutsk was established in 1934, under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, to control cases of plague, its website says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

The launch is nevertheless another sign of how Ukraine’s defense industry, which collapsed after the end of the Soviet Union, has again become among the world’s most sophisticated.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

In a series of late-night meetings, with tape recorders rolling, Penkovsky shared secret details about Soviet weapons technology.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Can you discuss incorporating the film's themes about race, the soviets, the government, surveillance and conformity, and free will?

From Salon ● May 29, 2020

As the delegates talked, Germany continued to collapse from within: inspired by the Russian Revolution, workers and soldiers were forming soviets, or councils.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 29, 2018

StevenSigmon The CIA trained Afghans to use pressure cookers against the soviets.

From Time ● Apr. 16, 2013

Lenin and the Bolsheviks soon gained control of the Petrograd soviet, as well as the soviets in other major Russian cities.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012

Constitutional government had been replaced by the soviets and by committees of soldiers and workmen.

From Now It Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs