soviet

Borrowed from Russian сове́т (sovét, “council”), from Old Russian borrowed from Old Church Slavonic съвѣтъ (sŭvětŭ, “advice”). Compounded from съ- (sŭ-) + вѣтъ (větŭ, “agreement”), from Proto-Slavic *větъ (“council, talk”). Related words include наве́т (navét), изве́т (izvét), отве́т (otvét), приве́т (privét), обе́т (obét), ве́че (véče), отвеча́ть (otvečátʹ), отве́тить (otvétitʹ), завеща́ть (zaveščátʹ), and совещаться (soveščatʹsja). Probably cognate with Polish witać (“to welcome”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊ.vi.ət/, /ˈsɒ.vi.ət/[1]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊ.vi.ət/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

soviet (plural soviets)

1. (historical) A workers' council, an institution first formed during the 1905 Russian Revolution and then instituted as the main form of communist government at all levels in the Soviet Union; by extension, a similar organization in early Chinese communism and elsewhere.
   • 1972, James Pinckney Harrison, “Growth of the Rural Soviets”, in The Long March to Power: A History of the Chinese Communist Party, 1921-72 (Praeger University Series)‎, Praeger Publishers, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 194–195:

     They then established the West Hunan-Hupeh (Hsiang-O-Hsi) Special Committee and a little later transformed it into a soviet government. Party membership figures as of 1932 for a dozen counties in the area were estimated at 18,034, with the largest number, 4,468, working in Chienli County, then headquarters of the soviet.

   • 2005, James Meek, The People's Act of Love, Canongate, published 2006, page 230:

     Kratochvil, Jedlicka, Safar, Kubes and Vasata, who always took an interest in politics, set up a soviet in the last wagon and uncoupled it from the rest of the train in the night.

   • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 184:

     Workers' committees were forming embryo soviets, soldiers' and sailors' collectives had whole ships and regiments under their temporary command, landless workers in the countryside were taking over abandoned farms and properties.

• Soviet republic
• Supreme Soviet

soviet (comparative more soviet, superlative most soviet)

1. Pertaining to or resembling a soviet (council).
2. Alternative letter-case form of Soviet (pertaining to the Soviet Union)
   • 1935, Louis Fischer, Soviet Journey, page 129:

     An engineer who is not very soviet in his convictions is the hero.

   • 1947, Washington Education Association, Washington Education Journal:

     Why are separate divisions for teachers and administrators in a state organization any more "soviet" than the same divisions in a city educational […]

   • 1991 August 27, “Whatchamacallit”, in Boston Globe:

     The Soviet government is not very soviet anymore or, for that matter, much of a government.

   • 2004 November 14, “M&S coach Rose makes his pitch”, in Times Online:

     "It felt very soviet, very intimidating", said Steven Sharp, one of Rose’s closest lieutenants.

   • 2005, Mao Zedong, Stuart Reynolds Schram, Nancy Jane Hodes, Mao's Road to Power: Revolutionary Writings 1912-1949, page 575:

     […] that has been enlarged most quickly and widely is the very soviet region newly created in northern Sichuan.

   • 2006, Kate Transchel, Under the Influence: Working-Class Drinking, Temperance, and Cultural ..., page 136:

     One tactic was to become more "soviet" than vanguard workers by enthusiastically participating in the regime's productivity campaigns such as shock work,

   • 2006, SG Inge-Vechtomov, “From the Mutation Theory to the Theory of the Mutation Process”, in NATO Security through Science Series B:

     Lobashev was of completely proletarian origin. He was a very soviet person.

   • 2007 May 7, Comment on Fred Hiatt, “A Soviet Memorial -- and Mind-Set: How far Russia has regressed became shockingly evident last week when Vladimir Putin's Russia unleashed a barrage against neighboring Estonia.”, in Washington Post:

     There are 3 kinds of Russian speakers in Estonia: a Those that have taken out Estonian Citizenship, b Those that took out Russian citizenship and are therefore loyal to Russia, c those that have not taken either citizenship and are still very soviet in mindstate.

• sovite

soviet m or f by sense (plural soviets)

1. Soviet

soviet m or f (masculine and feminine plural soviets)

1. Soviet

Borrowed from Russian сове́т (sovét, “council”).

• IPA^(key): /sɔ.vjɛt/

• Audio

  (file)

soviet m (plural soviets)

1. (Soviet Union) soviet (council)

• soviétique

• “soviet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

soviet m (invariable)

1. soviet (council)

• soviet supremo

• estivo, estivò

• совет (sovet) — Moldovan Cyrillic spelling

Borrowed from Russian совет (sovet). Doublet of sfat.

• IPA^(key): /so.viˈet/

soviet n (plural soviete)

1. soviet (council)

• sóviet

soviet m (plural soviets)

1. soviet (an assembly, convocation, or council of workers)

• “soviet”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014