tankie
/ˈtæŋ.ki/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.34 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) who supported the Soviet Union's policy of crushing revolts in Hungary in the 1950s and Czechoslovakia in the 1960s by sending tanks into those countries.
British usage; Slang
noun
A supporter of policies and actions by the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, or other authoritarian socialist governments.
Slang
adj
Supporting the policies of the Soviet Union or other Marxist-Leninist governments.
Derogatory; Slang
Example Sentences
- "[W]e also desired to shock the staid older party members and the tankies. The tankies and softliners differed as to what sort of magazine Challenge should be."
- "Stephen Well, read the Morning Star and keep up with the tankies. / Max The tankies[…] How the years roll by. Dubcek is back. Russia agrees to withdraw its garrisons. Czechoslovakia takes her knickers off to welcome capitalism. And all that remains of August '68 is a derisive nickname for the only real Communists left in the Communist Party. I'm exactly as old as the October Revolution[…]"
- "[T]he tankies, those members of the British Communist Party who unquestioningly followed Moscow's line, up to and beyond supporting Soviet tanks rumbling through the streets of Budapest and Prague, […]"
- "Near-synonym: authcom"
- "As far as the Sparklies were concerned the new comics were scruffy herberts who shouted ‘Fuck Thatcher’ over and over, while raving Tankie Stalinists hooted indiscriminately in the front row."
- "Though in an age in which anyone can publish texts, images, and videos to potentially huge audiences and in which impassioned leftists of “woke,” “tankie,” and “democratic-socialist” (post-Corbynista or Bernie Bro) persuasions post constant calls to action, informational posts, and manifestos, the failure of the left to ignite needs further analysis."
Etymology
From tank + -ie (diminutive suffix). Sense 1 and, by extension, sense 2 were named for the tanks used by the Soviet Union against uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
Usage
- British usage
- Slang
- Derogatory
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Military.