refusenik

re·fuse·nik

R r

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [ri-fyooz-nik]
- /rɪˈfyuz nɪk/
- /rɪˈfjuːznɪk/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [ri-fyooz-nik]
- /rɪˈfyuz nɪk/

Definitions of refusenik word

noun refusenik a Soviet citizen, usually Jewish, who was denied permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union. 1
noun refusenik (formerly) a Jew in the Soviet Union who had been refused permission to emigrate 0
noun refusenik a person who refuses to cooperate with a system or comply with a law because of a moral conviction 0
noun refusenik a Soviet citizen, esp. a Jew, refused permission to emigrate 0

See all 4 definitions of refusenik

Information block about the term

Origin of refusenik

First appearance:

before 1970

One of the 2% newest English words

1970-75; refuse1 + -nik, perhaps translation of Russian otkáznik (unless the Russ word is itself a translation of refusenik)

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Refusenik

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Refusenik

refusenik popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 46% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

According to our data about 61% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

refusenik usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer