REVOLUTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does revolution mean? 

• REVOLUTION (noun)
  The noun REVOLUTION has 3 senses:

1. a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving

2. the overthrow of a government by those who are governed

3. a single complete turn (axial or orbital)

  Familiarity information: REVOLUTION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REVOLUTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

the industrial revolution was also a cultural revolution

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

alteration; change; modification (an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another)

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

Cultural Revolution; Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (a radical reform in China initiated by Mao Zedong in 1965 and carried out largely by the Red Guard; intended to eliminate counterrevolutionary elements in the government it resulted in purges of the intellectuals and socioeconomic chaos)

green revolution (the introduction of pesticides and high-yield grains and better management during the 1960s and 1970s which greatly increased agricultural productivity)

Derivation:

revolutionary (markedly new or introducing radical change)

revolutionise (change radically)

revolutionise (fill with revolutionary ideas)

revolutionist (a radical supporter of political or social revolution)

revolutionize (change radically)

revolutionize (fill with revolutionary ideas)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The overthrow of a government by those who are governed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

group action (action taken by a group of people)

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

counterrevolution (a revolution whose aim is to reverse the changes introduced by a previous revolution)

Instance hyponyms:

American Revolution; American Revolutionary War; American War of Independence; War of American Independence (the revolution of the American Colonies against Great Britain; 1775-1783)

Chinese Revolution (the republican revolution against the Manchu dynasty in China; 1911-1912)

Cuban Revolution (the revolution led by Fidel Castro and a small band of guerrilla fighters against a corrupt dictatorship in Cuba; 1956-1959)

Bloodless Revolution; English Revolution; Glorious Revolution (the revolution against James II; there was little armed resistance to William and Mary in England although battles were fought in Scotland and Ireland (1688-1689))

French Revolution (the revolution in France against the Bourbons; 1789-1799)

Mexican Revolution (a revolution for agrarian reforms led in northern Mexico by Pancho Villa and in southern Mexico by Emiliano Zapata (1910-1911))

February Revolution; Russian Revolution (the revolution against the czarist government which led to the abdication of Nicholas II and the creation of a provisional government in March 1917)

Derivation:

revolt (make revolution)

revolutionary (relating to or having the nature of a revolution)

revolutionist (a radical supporter of political or social revolution)

revolutionize (overthrow by a revolution, of governments)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A single complete turn (axial or orbital)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

gyration; revolution; rotation

Context example:

the revolution of the earth about the sun takes one year

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

turn; turning (a movement in a new direction)

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

clockwise rotation; dextrorotation (rotation to the right)

counterclockwise rotation; levorotation (rotation to the left)

axial motion; axial rotation; roll (rotary motion of an object around its own axis)

orbital motion; orbital rotation (motion of an object in an orbit around a fixed point)

spin (a swift whirling motion (usually of a missile))

Derivation:

revolutionary (of or relating to or characteristic or causing an axial or orbital turn)

revolve (move in an orbit)

revolve (turn on or around an axis or a center)

 Context examples 

The winter advanced, and an entire revolution of the seasons had taken place since I awoke into life.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

In one way, he had undergone a moral revolution.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The planet makes one full revolution around its parent star in just 11 hours.

(A Rare Look at a Rocky Exoplanet's Surface, NASA)

As for Wickham and Lydia, their characters suffered no revolution from the marriage of her sisters.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Here was another strange revolution of mind!

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

What a revolution in her ideas!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The revolution which one instant had made in Anne, was almost beyond expression.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

NGTS-1b, about 600 light years from the Earth, is so extremely close to its star that a revolution around its star takes only about 2.6 Earth days — 2.647298 ± 0.000020 — and its surface temperature is about 800 K.

(Astronomers report dwarf star with unexpectedly giant planet, Wikinews)

There was the news of a revolution, of a possible war, and of an impending change of government; but these did not come within the horizon of my companion.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And on the part of White Fang it required nothing less than a revolution.

(White Fang, by Jack London)