Menshevik
pronunciation
How to pronounce Menshevik in British English:
UK [ˈmenʃəvik]
How to pronounce Menshevik in American English:
US [ˈmɛnʃəvɪk]
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- Noun:
- a Russian member of the liberal minority group that advocated gradual reform and opposed the Bolsheviks before and during the Russian Revolution
Word Origin
- Menshevik (adj.)
- 1907, from Russian men'shevik, from men'she "lesser" (comparative of malo "little," from PIE root *mei- (2) "small;" see minus) + -evik "one that is." So called by Lenin because they were a minority in the party. Earlier used in reference to the minority faction of the Social-Democratic Party, when it split in 1903. As a noun from 1917. Russian plural mensheviki occasionally was used in English.