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bolshevism

noun

Simple meaning

The Communist political ideology adopted by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

bohlshuhvihzuhm

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈboʊlʃəvɪzəm

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The Communist political ideology adopted by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; Marxism-Leninism.

  2. The strategy used by the Bolsheviks in attempting to gain power in Russia.

  3. Soviet communism

  4. Alternative letter-case form of Bolshevism.

Word at a Glance

Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The Communist political ideology adopted by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; Marxism-Leninism.

Used this way, bolshevism is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Government/politics

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

national bolshevismjewish bolshevismcultural bolshevism

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • marxism

    The socialist and communist philosophy and political program founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

  • leninism

    The political and economic theories of Lenin which provided the guiding doctrine of the Soviet Union.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.