socialist

UK/ˈsəʊʃəlɪst/US/ˈsoʊ.ʃə.lɪst/

adjectiveC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,552 of 15,258mostly written

Socialist means believing the state should own and share out the wealth. A socialist government, socialist policies, a democratic socialist.

The word covers an enormous range, from parties that simply want strong public services to states that abolished private ownership. In American politics socialist is chiefly used as an accusation, which is not so elsewhere.

Definitions of socialist

1adjectivesocialistBelieving the state should own and share out the wealth.C1
“The socialist government took control of the railways and the coal mines.”

socialist is a belief.

Where it comes from

Middle French
social
English
social
English, today
socialist

Built from

socius · Latin — a companion, fellow, partner, associate, ally
sequor · Latin — follow

From social + -ist. social Borrowed from Middle French social. From Middle French social, from Latin sociālis (“of or belonging to a companion or companionship or association, social”), from socius (“a companion, fellow, partner, associate, ally”), from sequor (“follow”). Cognate with English seg (“man, companion, fellow”). More at seg.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

socialist in the wild

As a political force, socialist parties and ideas exercise varying degrees of power and influence, heading national governments in several countries.
Socialism
In parallel, many former socialist politicians and political parties embraced "Third Way" politics, remaining committed to equality and welfare while abandoning public ownership and class-based politics.
Socialism
In visual arts, socialist realism often relied on the conventions of academic art and classical sculpture.
Socialist realism
In the aftermath of World War II, socialist realism was adopted as official policy by the communist states that were politically aligned with the Soviet Union.
Socialist realism
Upon the North Vietnamese victory in 1975, Vietnam reunified as a communist state that self-designated as a socialist state under the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 1976.
Vietnam

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the social family

social

socialist — used about once every 2,648 pages · #7,552 · point at the bar for the others

socialism

← Vocabulary