Standard Lemma guide

communism

noun · 11 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: [ˈkɒm.ju.nɪ.zm̩]
  • US: [ˈkɑ.mju.nɪ.zm̩]
  • US: [ˈkɑ.mjə.nɪ.zm̩]
  • Australian: [ˈkɔm.jə.nɪ.zm̩]
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /kɒ.mjə.nɪ.zəm/
  • /kɒ.mjʊ.nɪ.zəm/ RP, conservative
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K AA1 M Y AH0 N IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any far-left political ideology or philosophy advocating holding the production of resources collectively, especially by seizing it through revolution.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: aspheterism

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any political social system that implements a communist political philosophy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The international socialist society where classes, money, and the state no longer exist.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Any left-wing ideology, government regulations, or policies promoting a welfare state, nationalisation, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Western, colloquial, countable, derogatory, often, uncountable

Examples

  • This tax plan is communism!

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Readiness to share scientific findings (the first of the Mertonian norms).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, rare, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

communality, sharedness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, rare, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

The ideology of political parties that use the term Communist in their names, usually Marxist and Leninist.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

The socio-economic system based on such parties' ideologies.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

A state of affairs perceived as oppressive, overly arbitrary, or totalitarian.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, informal, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

a political theory favoring collectivism in a classless society

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: political orientation, ideology, political theory

Narrower terms: Castroism, Leninism, Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, Marxism, Trotskyism

11

noun

Meaning 11

a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: socialism, socialist economy

Narrower terms: Bolshevism, collectivism, sovietism

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mey- Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s Proto-Italic *kommoinis Old Latin comoinis Latin commūnis Old French comun French commun Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)der. Latin -ismusbor. French -isme French communismebor. English communism A borrowing from French communisme, which was formed from commun (“common”) (from Latin commūnis) and the suffix -isme (“-ism”). By surface analysis, commune + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

185 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: kommunisme — ideology/philosophy
  • Albanian: komunizëm — ideology/philosophy
  • Amharic: ኰሙኒስም (kwämunism) — ideology/philosophy
  • Arabic: شُيُوعِيَّة (šuyūʕiyya) — ideology/philosophy
  • Arabic: شيوعية (šuyūʕiyya) — ideology/philosophy
  • Aragonese: comunismo — ideology/philosophy
  • Armenian: կոմունիզմ (komunizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Armenian: համայնատիրություն (hamaynatirutʻyun) — ideology/philosophy
  • Assamese: সাম্যবাদ (xaimmobad) — ideology/philosophy
  • Asturian: comunismu — ideology/philosophy
  • Azerbaijani: kommunizm — ideology/philosophy
  • Basque: komunismo — ideology/philosophy
  • Belarusian: камуні́зм (kamunízm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Bengali: কমিউনিজম (komiunijom) — ideology/philosophy
  • Bengali: সাম্যবাদ (śammobad) — ideology/philosophy
  • Bulgarian: комуни́зъм (komunízǎm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Burmese: ကွန်မြူနစ်စနစ် (kwanmrunacca.nac) — ideology/philosophy
  • Burmese: ကွန်မြူနစ်ဝါဒ (kwanmrunac-wada.) — ideology/philosophy
  • Catalan: comunisme — ideology/philosophy
  • Chinese Cantonese: 共產主義 /共产主义 (gung6 caan2 zyu2 ji6) — ideology/philosophy
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 共產主義 /共产主义 (gê̤ṳng-sāng ciō-ngiê) — ideology/philosophy
  • Chinese: 共產主義 /共产主义 (kiōng-sán-chú-gī) — ideology/philosophy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 共產主義 /共产主义 (gòngchǎnzhǔyì) — ideology/philosophy
  • Wu Chinese: 共產主義 /共产主义 (6gon-tshe-tsy-gni) — ideology/philosophy
  • Corsican: cumunismu — ideology/philosophy
  • Czech: komunismus — ideology/philosophy
  • Danish: kommunisme — ideology/philosophy
  • Dutch: communisme — ideology/philosophy
  • Esperanto: komunismo — ideology/philosophy
  • Estonian: kommunism — ideology/philosophy
  • Faroese: kommunisma — ideology/philosophy
  • Finnish: kommunismi — ideology/philosophy
  • French: communisme — ideology/philosophy
  • West-Frisian: kommunisme — ideology/philosophy
  • Galician: comunismo — ideology/philosophy
  • Georgian: კომუნიზმი (ḳomunizmi) — ideology/philosophy
  • German: Kommunismus — ideology/philosophy
  • Greek: κομμουνισμός (kommounismós) — ideology/philosophy
  • Greenlandic: kommunistiussuseq — ideology/philosophy
  • Gujarati: સામ્યવાદ (sāmyavād) — ideology/philosophy
  • Hebrew: קוֹמוּנִיזְם (komunízm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Hindi: साम्यवाद (sāmyavād) — ideology/philosophy
  • Hindi: कम्युनिज़म (kamyunizam) — ideology/philosophy
  • Hindi: समानतावाद (samāntāvād) — ideology/philosophy
  • Hungarian: kommunizmus — ideology/philosophy
  • Icelandic: kommúnismi — ideology/philosophy
  • Ido: komunismo — ideology/philosophy
  • Indonesian: komunisme — ideology/philosophy
  • Irish: cumannachas — ideology/philosophy
  • Italian: comunismo — ideology/philosophy
  • Japanese: 共産主義 (kyōsanshugi) — ideology/philosophy
  • Japanese: コミュニズム (komyunizumu) — ideology/philosophy
  • Kannada: ಸಾಮ್ಯವಾದ (sāmyavāda) — ideology/philosophy
  • Kazakh: коммунизм (kommunizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Khmer: កុម្មុយនិស្តនិយម (kommuynɨh niyum) — ideology/philosophy
  • Khmer: លទ្ធិកុម្មុយនិស្ត (latthiʼ kommuynɨh) — ideology/philosophy
  • Korean: 공산주의 (gongsanjuui) — ideology/philosophy
  • Central Kurdish: کۆمۆنیزم (komonîzm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Northern Kurdish: komûnîzm — ideology/philosophy
  • Kyrgyz: коммунизм (kommunizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Lao: ລັດທິຄອມມູນິດ (lat thi khǭm mū nit) — ideology/philosophy
  • Latin: communismus — ideology/philosophy
  • Latvian: komunisms — ideology/philosophy
  • Lingala: komynisimɛ — ideology/philosophy
  • Lithuanian: komunizmas — ideology/philosophy
  • Low German: Kommunismus — ideology/philosophy
  • Luxembourgish: Kommunismus — ideology/philosophy
  • Macedonian: комуни́зам (komunízam) — ideology/philosophy
  • Malagasy: kominisma — ideology/philosophy
  • Malagasy: komonisma — ideology/philosophy
  • Malay: komunisme — ideology/philosophy
  • Malay: faham komunis — ideology/philosophy
  • Malayalam: കമ്യൂണിസം (kamyūṇisaṁ) — ideology/philosophy
  • Malayalam: സാമ്യവാദം (sāmyavādaṁ) — ideology/philosophy
  • Maltese: komuniżmu — ideology/philosophy
  • Manx: cummynys — ideology/philosophy
  • Māori: whiwhingatahitanga — ideology/philosophy
  • Māori: angatōpū — ideology/philosophy
  • Marathi: साम्यवाद (sāmyavād) — ideology/philosophy
  • Mongolian: коммунизм (kommunizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Mongolian: эв хамт ёс (ev xamt jos) — ideology/philosophy
  • Mongolian: ᠺᠣᠮᠮᠦ᠋ᠨᠢᠰᠮ (kommünism) — ideology/philosophy
  • Mongolian: ᠡᠪ ᠬᠠᠮᠲᠤ ᠶᠣᠰᠤ (eb qamtu yosu) — ideology/philosophy
  • Nepali: साम्यवाद (sāmyavād) — ideology/philosophy
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kommunisme — ideology/philosophy
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kommunisme — ideology/philosophy
  • Occitan: comunisme — ideology/philosophy
  • Odia: ସାମ୍ଯବାଦ (sāmjabāda) — ideology/philosophy
  • Pashto: کمونيزم (kamūnizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Iranian Persian: کُمونیسْم (komunism) — ideology/philosophy
  • Polish: komunizm — ideology/philosophy
  • Portuguese: comunismo — ideology/philosophy
  • Punjabi: ਸਾਮਵਾਦ (sāmavād) — ideology/philosophy
  • Quechua: kumunismu — ideology/philosophy
  • Romanian: comunism — ideology/philosophy
  • Russian: коммуни́зм (kommunízm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Sardinian: comunismu — ideology/philosophy
  • Scottish Gaelic: comannachd — ideology/philosophy
  • Scottish Gaelic: co-mhaoineas — ideology/philosophy
  • Serbo-Croatian: комунѝзам — ideology/philosophy
  • Serbo-Croatian: komunìzam — ideology/philosophy
  • Sicilian: cumunismu — ideology/philosophy
  • Sinhalese: සමසමාජවාදය (samasamājawādaya) — ideology/philosophy
  • Slovak: komunizmus — ideology/philosophy
  • Slovene: komunizem — ideology/philosophy
  • Spanish: comunismo — ideology/philosophy
  • Swahili: ukomunisti — ideology/philosophy
  • Swedish: kommunism — ideology/philosophy
  • Sango: kömïnîsi — ideology/philosophy
  • Tagalog: komunismo — ideology/philosophy
  • Tagalog: kalamaan — ideology/philosophy
  • Tajik: коммунизм (kommunizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Tamil: பொதுவுடைமை (potuvuṭaimai) — ideology/philosophy
  • Tamil: கம்யூனிசம் (kamyūṉicam) — ideology/philosophy
  • Tatar: коммунизм (qommunizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Telugu: సామ్యవాదము (sāmyavādamu) — ideology/philosophy
  • Thai: ลัทธิคอมมิวนิสต์ (lát-tí-kɔm-miu-nít) — ideology/philosophy
  • Tibetan: གུང་ཁྲན་རིང་ལུགས (gung khran ring lugs) — ideology/philosophy
  • Tibetan: དམར་པོའི་རིང་ལུགས (dmar po'i ring lugs) — ideology/philosophy
  • Turkish: komünizm — ideology/philosophy
  • Turkish: komünistlik — ideology/philosophy
  • Ottoman Turkish: قومونیزم (komünizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Turkmen: kommunizm — ideology/philosophy
  • Tuvan: коммунизм (kommunizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Ukrainian: комуні́зм (komunízm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Urdu: اِشْتِمالِیَت (iśtimāliyat) — ideology/philosophy
  • Urdu: کَمْیُونِزْم (kamyūnizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Uyghur: كوممۇنىزم (kommunizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Uzbek: kommunizm — ideology/philosophy
  • Venetan: comunismo — ideology/philosophy
  • Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa cộng sản — ideology/philosophy
  • Volapük: kobädim — ideology/philosophy
  • Welsh: comiwnyddiaeth — ideology/philosophy
  • Yiddish: קאָמוניזם (komunizm) — ideology/philosophy
  • Zhuang: gungcanjcujyi — ideology/philosophy
  • Zhuang: gungcanj cujyi — ideology/philosophy
  • Arabic: شُيُوعِيَّة (šuyūʕiyya) — society
  • Armenian: կոմունիզմ (komunizm) — society
  • Bulgarian: комуни́зъм (komunízǎm) — society
  • Catalan: comunisme — society
  • Chinese Cantonese: 共產主義 /共产主义 (gung6 caan2 zyu2 ji6) — society
  • Chinese: 共產主義 /共产主义 (kiōng-sán-chú-gī) — society
  • Chinese Mandarin: 共產主義 /共产主义 (gòngchǎnzhǔyì) — society
  • Danish: kommunisme — society
  • Dutch: communisme — society
  • Estonian: kommunism — society
  • Finnish: kommunismi — society
  • French: communisme — society
  • Galician: comunismo — society
  • Georgian: კომუნიზმი (ḳomunizmi) — society
  • German: Kommunismus — society
  • Greek: κομμουνισμός (kommounismós) — society
  • Greenlandic: kommunistiussuseq — society
  • Hungarian: kommunizmus — society
  • Irish: cumannachas — society
  • Italian: comunismo — society
  • Japanese: 共産主義 (kyōsanshugi) — society
  • Japanese: コミュニズム (komyunizumu) — society
  • Korean: 공산주의 (gongsanjuui) — society
  • Latvian: komunisms — society
  • Lithuanian: komunizmas — society
  • Low German: Kommunismus — society
  • Macedonian: комуни́зам (komunízam) — society
  • Malay: komunisme — society
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kommunisme — society
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kommunisme — society
  • Polish: komunizm — society
  • Portuguese: comunismo — society
  • Romanian: comunism — society
  • Russian: коммуни́зм (kommunízm) — society
  • Scottish Gaelic: co-mhaoineas — society
  • Serbo-Croatian: комунѝзам — society
  • Serbo-Croatian: komunìzam — society
  • Slovene: komunizem — society
  • Spanish: comunismo — society
  • Swedish: kommunism — society
  • Turkish: komünizm — society
  • Turkish: komünistlik — society
  • Urdu: اِشْتِمالِیَت (iśtimāliyat) — society
  • Urdu: کَمْیُونِزْم (kamyūnizm) — society
  • Vietnamese: chế độ cộng sản — society
  • Welsh: comiwnyddiaeth — society
  • Finnish: kommunismi — scientific norm
  • Finnish: tieteellinen kommunismi — scientific norm
  • Polish: komunizm — scientific norm
Real reading context

communism in complete knowledge articles