bolshie
/ˈbɒl.ʃi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.50 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A government leftist, especially a communist, socialist, or labour union leader.
British usage; Dated; Derogatory
Example Sentences
- "Kate, don't be so bolshie!"
- "It's quite possible that I and my pals were nasty bolshy little schoolboys who thoroughly deserved to be thrashed through the gorse bushes in the dead of the night[.]"
- "Rachel came in, and Nick felt he'd been caught larking about, Catherine squashing him like some bolshie teenage attempt at seduction."
- ""How I looked or what I was wearing had become more import than my politics, " the 65-year-old told BBC Wales Breakfast. "I can be bolshie if I'm fighting for a cause or for someone else, but deep down I'm very sensitive.""
Etymology
From Bolshevik (Russian большеви́к (bolʹševík), the socialist party in the 1918 Russian Revolution, from Russian большевики́ (bolʹševikí, “majority faction”), + -ie.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈbɒl.ʃi/
Usage
- British usage
- Dated
- Derogatory