RUSSIAN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Russian mean? 

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

1. a native or inhabitant of Russia

2. the Slavic language that is the official language of Russia

  Familiarity information: RUSSIAN used as a noun is rare.

• RUSSIAN (adjective)
  The adjective RUSSIAN has 1 sense:

1. of or pertaining to or characteristic of Russia or its people or culture or language

  Familiarity information: RUSSIAN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RUSSIAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A native or inhabitant of Russia

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

aboriginal; aborigine; indigen; indigene; native (an indigenous person who was born in a particular place)

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

Ostyak-Samoyed; Selkup (one of the people of mixed Ostyak and Samoyed origin in Siberia)

Chechen (a native or inhabitant of Chechnya)

Siberian (a native or inhabitant of Siberia)

Georgian (a native or inhabitant of Georgia in Asia)

Muscovite (a resident of Moscow)

Great Russian (a member of the chief stock of Russian people living in European Russia; used to distinguish ethnic Russians from other peoples incorporated into Russia)

Yeniseian (a member of one of the groups living in the Yenisei river valley in western Siberia)

Mansi; Vogul (a member of a nomadic people of the northern Urals)

Veps; Vepse; Vepsian (a member of a Finnish people of Russia)

Samoyed (a Samoyedic-speaking person in northwestern Siberia)

Nganasan (a member of the Samoyedic people living on the Taimyr Peninsula in Siberia)

Mordva; Mordvin; Mordvinian (a member of the agricultural people living in the central Volga provinces of European Russia)

Khanty; Ostyak (a member of the nomadic Ugrian people living in northwestern Siberia (east of the Urals))

Carelian; Karelian (a member of the Finnish people living in Karelia in northwestern European Russia)

Inger; Ingerman; Ingrian (a member of western Finnish people formerly living in the Baltic province where Saint Petersburg was built)

Cheremis; Cheremiss; Mari (a member of a rural Finnish people living in eastern Russia)

Komi (a member of a Finnish people living in the northwestern Urals in Russia)

Udmurt; Votyak (a member of the Finno-Ugric-speaking people living in eastern European Russia)

Tatar (a member of the Turkic-speaking people living from the Volga to the Ural Mountains (the name has been attributed to many other groups))

Holonyms ("Russian" is a member of...):

Russia; Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic; Soviet Russia (formerly the largest Soviet Socialist Republic in the USSR occupying eastern Europe and northern Asia)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The Slavic language that is the official language of Russia

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

Slavic; Slavic language; Slavonic; Slavonic language (a branch of the Indo-European family of languages)

Domain region:

Russia; Soviet Union; Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; USSR (a former communist country in eastern Europe and northern Asia; established in 1922; included Russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia and others); officially dissolved 31 December 1991)

• RUSSIAN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or pertaining to or characteristic of Russia or its people or culture or language

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

Russian dancing

Pertainym:

Russia (a former communist country in eastern Europe and northern Asia; established in 1922; included Russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia and others); officially dissolved 31 December 1991)

Derivation:

Russia (a former empire in eastern Europe and northern Asia created in the 14th century with Moscow as the capital; powerful in the 17th and 18th centuries under Peter the Great and Catherine the Great when Saint Petersburg was the capital; overthrown by revolution in 1917)

Russia (a federation in northeastern Europe and northern Asia; formerly Soviet Russia; since 1991 an independent state)

 Context examples 

But I saw thee not, that night, when all thy people—yea, even the boys not yet hunters—fell upon the Russians and slew them all.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It was carried out starting in January 2005 at the Russian segment of the ISS and saw 68 different organisms, including bacteria, insects, vertebrate animal and higher plants, used as test subjects.

(Mutated Terrestrial Bacteria That Return from Space Pose Threat to Life on Earth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

I think, Watson, you and I will drive together to the Russian Embassy.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Maybe it’s a Russian,” suggested Latimer.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

In such case we must get a sledge and go on, Russian fashion.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“The Russian Prince is a client of yours, is he?” said Steerforth.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A Russian prince condescended to sit in a corner for an hour and talk with a massive lady, dressed like Hamlet's mother in black velvet with a pearl bridle under her chin.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

‘A Russian nobleman who is now resident in England,’ it runs, ‘would be glad to avail himself of the professional assistance of Dr. Percy Trevelyan.’

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Black Russian Terrier is a rare Russian breed that is robust, strong, large, stable and alert.

(Black Russian Terrier, NCI Thesaurus)

Some years ago he loved a young Russian lady of moderate fortune, and having amassed a considerable sum in prize-money, the father of the girl consented to the match.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)