COMMUNISM

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does communism mean? 

• COMMUNISM (noun)
  The noun COMMUNISM has 2 senses:

1. a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership

2. a political theory favoring collectivism in a classless society

  Familiarity information: COMMUNISM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMMUNISM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A form of socialism that abolishes private ownership

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("communism" is a kind of...):

socialism; socialist economy (an economic system based on state ownership of capital)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "communism"):

Bolshevism; collectivism; sovietism (Soviet communism)

Derivation:

communist (a socialist who advocates communism)

Communist (a member of the communist party)

communistic (relating to or marked by communism)

communize (make into property owned by the state)

communize (make Communist or bring in accord with Communist principles)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A political theory favoring collectivism in a classless society

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("communism" is a kind of...):

ideology; political orientation; political theory (an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "communism"):

Castroism (a form of communism developed in Cuba by Fidel Castro)

Leninism; Marxism-Leninism (the political and economic theories of Lenin which provided the guiding doctrine of the Soviet Union; the modification of Marxism by Lenin stressed that imperialism is the highest form of capitalism (which shifts the struggle from developed to underdeveloped countries))

Maoism (a form of communism developed in China by Mao Zedong)

Marxism (the economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded by communism)

Trotskyism (the form of communism advocated by Leon Trotsky; calls for immediate worldwide revolution by the proletariat)

Derivation:

communist (a socialist who advocates communism)

Communist (a member of the communist party)

communistic (relating to or marked by communism)

communize (make into property owned by the state)

communize (make Communist or bring in accord with Communist principles)