perestroika
/pɛɹ.ɪˈstɹɔɪ.kə/
perestroika means A program of political and economic reform carried out in the Soviet Union in the 1980s and early 1990s under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev. It carries an Arena rating of 1440, earned across 83 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, perestroika ranks #941 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #1,503 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,908 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #3,053 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
perestroika is pronounced /pɛɹ.ɪˈstɹɔɪ.kə/.
Why “perestroika” is a great word
PERESTROIKA — [Noun] A program of political and economic restructuring, specifically the reforms in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s. Borrowed from Russian перестро́йка (perestrójka), from the prefix пере- (pere-, "re-, again") and стройка (strojka, "building, construction"), thus literally meaning "rebuilding" or "restructuring"; entered English usage circa 1981. Unlike "glasnost," which denoted a policy of openness and transparency, or "deregulation," a capitalist reduction of state control, perestroika was the state's own attempt to rebuild its socialist foundations from within. It is the sound of architects arguing over blueprints for a house still fully occupied, the unsettling vibration in a structure never designed to bend, and the vertigo of watching a monolithic edifice become a construction site—a poignant gamble that to reform a structure is sometimes to reveal its fatal cracks.
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian перестро́йка (perestrójka, “restructuring”).
noun
- A program of political and economic reform carried out in the Soviet Union in the 1980s and early 1990s under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev.
- The period of time in the Soviet Union during which these reforms were carried out and in effect.
- A situation where a small variation of parameters leads to a sudden change in properties.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- glasnost 71% match — 1980s and early 1990s policy of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev to allow more government transparency; often paired with perestroika vs perestroika →
- perestroikan 71% match — A member of the Perestroika Movement (political science). vs perestroika →
- antiperestroika 57% match — Opposing perestroika. vs perestroika →
- yeltsinism 52% match — the political and economic policies of Boris Yeltsin, after he became the effective ruler of Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991; the outward appearance of democracy, while actually concentrating power in a form of authoritarianism vs perestroika →
- postcommunism 51% match — The period of political and economic transformation or transition in former communist states located in parts of Europe and Asia, in which new governments aimed to create free market-oriented capitalist economies. vs perestroika →
- restructuring 49% match — A reorganization; an alteration of structure. vs perestroika →
- glasnostian 49% match — Relating to glasnost. vs perestroika →
- economicide 46% match — The destruction of an economic system by replacing it with a market economy. vs perestroika →