Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Relating to or being a revolution.
  • adjective Bringing about or supporting a political or social revolution.
  • adjective Marked by or resulting in radical change.
  • noun A militant in the struggle for revolution.
  • noun A supporter of revolutionary principles.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to a revolution in government, or [capitalized] to any movement or crisis known as the Revolution: as, a revolutionary war; Revolutionary heroes; the Revolutionary epoch in American history.
  • Tending to produce revolution; subversive of established codes or systems: as, revolutionary measures; revolutionary doctrines.
  • noun A revolutionist.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a revolution in government; tending to, or promoting, revolution.
  • noun rare A revolutionist.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a revolution in government; tending to, or promoting, revolution; as, revolutionary war; revolutionary measures; revolutionary agitators.
  • adjective advertising pertaining to something that portends of great change; overthrowing a standing mindset
  • adjective sciences pertaining to something that revolves
  • noun A revolutionist; a person who revolts.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective markedly new or introducing radical change
  • adjective advocating or engaged in revolution
  • adjective relating to or having the nature of a revolution
  • adjective of or relating to or characteristic or causing an axial or orbital turn
  • noun a radical supporter of political or social revolution

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

confer French révolutionnaire

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Examples

  • [Castro] It depends on what is understood by the term revolutionary focus.

    BEFORE LEAVING FOR CHILE 1971

  • The NPA, which the United States and European Union consider to be a foreign terrorist organization, has long extracted what it calls "revolutionary taxes" from businesses operating up and down the length of the Philippines.

    Philippines Flooding Provides Opportunities for Guerrillas James Hookway 2011

  • Daniel comes to what he describes as a revolutionary perspective through his own experiences as a worker in some of the hippest digital corporations in the new info crunching capitalist economy.

    Diet Soap #42: A Virus Called Capitalism 2010

  • Daniel comes to what he describes as a revolutionary perspective through his own experiences as a worker in some of the hippest digital corporations in the new info crunching capitalist economy.

    2010 January 2010

  • President Ahmadinejad planning to form an anti-American alliance with what he calls the revolutionary countries of Latin America.

    CNN Transcript Jan 15, 2007 2007

  • He said he was going to fight to defend what he calls his revolutionary style government to the death.

    CNN Transcript Dec 22, 2002 2002

  • De Klerk said it was true that the former government had embarked on overt and covert actions against what he called the revolutionary onslaught.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1996

  • De Klerk said it was true that the former government had embarked on overt and covert actions against what he called the revolutionary onslaught.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1996

  • I remember perfectly how, immediately after the guerrilla movement headed by Che in Bolivia [applause], in which -- as it is known full well, Cuban revolutionaries also participated the death of Che, a harsh blow to our people, a harsh blow to the Latin American revolutionary movement -- was used as a kind of argument to refute the idea of revolutionary armed struggle.

    CASTRO SPEECH TO WFDY, IUS YOUTH ON SOLIDARITY 1971

  • March 30, 1855, as the legitimate Government, he sent a special message to Congress on January 24, 1856, in which he characterized as revolutionary the movement of the free-state men to organize a separate

    An Anti-Slavery Crusade; a chronicle of the gathering storm Jesse Macy 1880

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