soviet

American  

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

noun

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  

/ ˈsɒv-, ˈsəʊvɪət /

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

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

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

Example Sentences

The ambassador drew a parallel with the Baltic nations and other former soviet republics that declared independence from Moscow when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 24, 2023

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

Thousands of handwritten pages carefully numbered, they form one of the most precious acquisitions of Memorial, the institute and archive established to preserve the memory of the gulag and the crimes of soviet communism.

From The Guardian • May 30, 2012

He motioned me towards a larger cage wherein a bevy of dun-coloured piglets were holding a soviet.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-02-04 by Various