Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A usually Jewish citizen of the Soviet Union who was denied permission to emigrate.
- noun Informal A person who refuses to do something.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Soviet Union, slang One of the
Jewish citizens of the former Soviet Union who were refused permission toemigrate . - noun colloquial A person characterized by a particular
refusal (especially one related tohuman rights .)
Etymologies
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Examples
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It's still too soon to say just what impact this "refusenik" movement will have.
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Even Peter Black is telling him that he has given up the idea of being a 'refusenik'.
Is the Rainbow fading? Glyn Davies 2007
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Even Peter Black is telling him that he has given up the idea of being a 'refusenik'.
Archive 2007-06-01 Glyn Davies 2007
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Of course, the original term "refusenik" was an unofficial term applied to individuals, typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews, who were denied permission to emigrate abroad by authorities of the former U.S.S.R. and other Eastern bloc countries.
Tech-Ex 2009
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After attempts to silence him proved fruitless, just about everyone else chose to ignore the Holloway Road refusenik.
Thierry Henry's second coming gets to the heart of the matter | Rob Bagchi 2012
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In one way that's not far off, for the restaurant did launch in the 60s, when postwar London refusenik Richard Pinney was looking for an outlet for the smoked fish and oysters that were the core of his business.
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Although threats to sack refusenik players who will not defer their wages have now been withdrawn, negotiations with the PFA are expected to continue for at least a fortnight.
Business as usual for suspended Confederation of African Football pair 2011
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I have until this year been a champion refusenik of the tournament, a money-grubby, on-dragging, mobile-phone-touting travesty that traditionally brings me out in a nasty case of apoplexy.
Why cricket's World Cup underdogs have knocked me for six 2011
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To this uncomplicated narrative David Bezmozgis is something of a refusenik.
Lost in Transit Sam Sacks 2011
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Which might of course explain the ostracism incurred by the recycling-refusenik.
The Waste of Recycling, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
bilby commented on the word refusenik
"Many of the most interesting people I've known have been one-offs. Oddities. Refuseniks. More quirky than communal. Dissidents. Loners. And, of course, it takes so little to be an oddity. A non-conforming belief, a funny hat or odd socks suffice."
- Phillip Adams in The Weekend Australian Magazine, 2 Feb 2008.
March 27, 2008
reesetee commented on the word refusenik
*looking at hat and socks*
March 27, 2008
qms commented on the word refusenik
Electoral purists learn new tricks,
Like playing with poems or Poohsticks,
To cope with the trial
Of internal exile
And abide for a while as refuseniks.
January 21, 2017