so·vi·et
ˈsō-vē-ˌet 
ˈsä-,
-vē-ət
1
: an elected governmental council in a Communist country
2
Soviets plural
a
b
: the people and especially the political and military leaders of the Soviet Union
: of, relating to, or characteristic of the Soviet Union or its people
Soviet history/policy
a Soviet spy
Soviet dissidents
Examples of soviet in a Sentence
Noun
disputes between Americans and Soviets
The plan was opposed by the Soviets.
Recent Examples on the Web
Daniel Fried, Foreign Affairs, 3 Apr. 2018
Only in the latter half of its 44-year run fighting Soviets and protecting popes has the G-class served as a glorified Rodeo Drive shopping cart.
—Clifford Atiyeh, Car and Driver, 16 Aug. 2023
Obviously if the Democratic presidential candidate were to suddenly start calling for dissolving Congress in favor of decentralized rule by workers’ soviets, that would probably hurt them.
—Dylan Matthews, Vox, 18 July 2018
This cultural tendency produced little soviets in the factories and barracks, which came together in a big Soviet in Petrograd; and suddenly The People, stomped-down for centuries, emerged as a living entity.
—Olga Ingurazova, Smithsonian, 29 Sep. 2017
Dave Savini, CBS News, 27 May 2024
Jeremy Strong plays Roy Cohn, the cutthroat lawyer who’d served as Senator Joe McCarthy’s chief counsel during the Army-McCarthy hearings, and who’d earlier used questionable means to get Julius and Ethel Rosenberg convicted as Soviet spies, resulting in their 1953 execution.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 23 May 2024
He’s fallen for his Soviet contact, a woman with crucial information about a mole in British intelligence.
—Elliott Smith and Chris Bellamy, EW.com, 23 May 2024
Even at the peaks of the Soviet and American occupations, Afghans constituted a majority of casualties on each side.
—Matthieu Aikins Victor J. Blue Peter Ganim Krish Seenivasan Steven Szczesniak, New York Times, 22 May 2024
But strains of anti-Jewish hatred that had long raged in Imperial Russia and led to waves of pogroms in the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as discriminatory residency and employment laws from Moscow to St. Petersburg, continued to permeate sectors of Soviet society.
—Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2024
Another espionage drama, FX’s The Americans, revolved around Philip and Elizabeth’s roles as deep cover Soviet spies posing as a suburban American couple.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 20 May 2024
At one point, characters refer to a Soviet satellite dumping radioactive debris on the city, and though Coppola depicts such a shower, no further mention is made of the disaster.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 16 May 2024
His notions were considered a bit quixotic in the 1970s, when U.S. foreign policy was geared more toward containment of the Soviet threat and monitoring human-rights abuses.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 15 May 2024
Noun
In September, the United States responded by expelling 25 Soviets from their UN mission in New York, and the next month, another 55 from the Soviet embassy in Washington and the consulate in San Francisco.
—Daniel Fried, Foreign Affairs, 3 Apr. 2018
Only in the latter half of its 44-year run fighting Soviets and protecting popes has the G-class served as a glorified Rodeo Drive shopping cart.
—Clifford Atiyeh, Car and Driver, 16 Aug. 2023
Obviously if the Democratic presidential candidate were to suddenly start calling for dissolving Congress in favor of decentralized rule by workers’ soviets, that would probably hurt them.
—Dylan Matthews, Vox, 18 July 2018
This cultural tendency produced little soviets in the factories and barracks, which came together in a big Soviet in Petrograd; and suddenly The People, stomped-down for centuries, emerged as a living entity.
—Olga Ingurazova, Smithsonian, 29 Sep. 2017
Adjective
In the mid-1980s, Air Force technician Mark Ely's job was to inspect secretly obtained Soviet fighter jets.
—Dave Savini, CBS News, 27 May 2024
Jeremy Strong plays Roy Cohn, the cutthroat lawyer who’d served as Senator Joe McCarthy’s chief counsel during the Army-McCarthy hearings, and who’d earlier used questionable means to get Julius and Ethel Rosenberg convicted as Soviet spies, resulting in their 1953 execution.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 23 May 2024
He’s fallen for his Soviet contact, a woman with crucial information about a mole in British intelligence.
—Elliott Smith and Chris Bellamy, EW.com, 23 May 2024
Even at the peaks of the Soviet and American occupations, Afghans constituted a majority of casualties on each side.
—Matthieu Aikins Victor J. Blue Peter Ganim Krish Seenivasan Steven Szczesniak, New York Times, 22 May 2024
But strains of anti-Jewish hatred that had long raged in Imperial Russia and led to waves of pogroms in the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as discriminatory residency and employment laws from Moscow to St. Petersburg, continued to permeate sectors of Soviet society.
—Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2024
Another espionage drama, FX’s The Americans, revolved around Philip and Elizabeth’s roles as deep cover Soviet spies posing as a suburban American couple.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 20 May 2024
At one point, characters refer to a Soviet satellite dumping radioactive debris on the city, and though Coppola depicts such a shower, no further mention is made of the disaster.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 16 May 2024
His notions were considered a bit quixotic in the 1970s, when U.S. foreign policy was geared more toward containment of the Soviet threat and monitoring human-rights abuses.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 15 May 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'soviet.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near soviet
Cite this Entry
“Soviet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soviet. Accessed 2 Jun. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
soviet
noun
so·vi·et
ˈsōv-ē-ˌet
ˈsäv-,
-ē-ət
1
a
: an elected governing council in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
2
plural capitalized
: the people and especially the political and military leaders of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
soviet
adjective
often capitalized
Etymology
Noun
from Russian sovet "council"
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