Soviet

From Russian сове́т (sovét), сове́тский (sovétskij).

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Soviet (plural Soviets)

1. A citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
   • 1991, Donald S. Zagoria, “The Changing Role of the Soviet Union in the Pacific”, in Frederic J. Fleron, Jr., Erik P. Hoffmann, Robbin F. Laird, editors, Contemporary Issues in Soviet Foreign Policy: From Brezhnev to Gorbachev‎, New York: Aldine de Gruyter, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 678:

     The major obstacle to a border settlement is the status of Heixiazi, a 330-square kilometer island at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers. The island is claimed by the Chinese but controlled by the USSR. Because Heixiazi overlooks Khabarovsk as well as the point where the Trans-Siberian Railway crosses the Amur River, the Soviets are reluctant to give it up.

2. Alternative letter-case form of soviet (“workers' council”)

Soviet (comparative more Soviet, superlative most Soviet)

1. (history, not comparable) Pertaining to the Soviet Union or its constituent republics.
   • 2005, Vitaly Kozyrev, “Soviet Policy Toward the United States and China, 1969-1979”, in William C. Kirby, Robert S. Ross, Gong Li, editors, Normalization of U.S.-China Relations: An International History‎, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 258:

     Later, in the 1980s, western scholars found that, notwithstanding the substantial Soviet military buildup near the Chinese borders in the late 1960s, it was Beijing that initiated the clash on Zhenbao (Damanski) Island.

2. Supporting or representing the Soviet Union or Sovietism; Sovietist.
   • 1998, David D. Laitin, Identity in Formation: The Russian-Speaking Populations in the Near Abroad, page 9:

     He remained more Soviet than his parents and often accused Gorbachev of having destroyed the Soviet Union on behalf of US intelligence.

   • 2001, Robert G. Moeller, War Stories: The Search for a Usable Past in the Federal Republic of Germany, page 113:

     Only in the GDR were the returning POWs presumed guilty; there East Germans, attempting to be "more Soviet than the Soviets," […]

   • 2005, Gennadiĭ Ėstraĭkh, In Harness: Yiddish Writers' Romance with Communism, page 61:

     It would also be incorrect to creat a "scale of Sovietism", arguing, say, that Gildin was more Soviet than Litvakov, or that Litvakov was more Soviet than Dobrushin. Essentially, they were equally Soviet, even if they saw their Sovietism rather differently: […]

• (pertaining to the Soviet Union): soviet

• (pertaining to the Soviet Union): Russian

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