revolution
/ˌɹɛv.əˈluː.ʃən/
revolution means A political upheaval in a government or state characterized by great change.
revolution is pronounced /ˌɹɛv.əˈluː.ʃən/.
Why “revolution” is a great word
A fundamental and often rapid overthrow of a political system, or the complete turn of an object around an axis. From Middle English revolucion, from Old French revolucion, from Late Latin revolūtiō ("the act of revolving"), from Latin revolvō ("to roll back, revolve"). Unlike "rebellion," an armed resistance that may fail to topple authority, or "reform," a correction intended to preserve the system, a revolution seeks the terminus of the old orbit and the violent birth of a new trajectory. It is the guillotine descending with democratic precision, the calendar itself being torn up and rewritten with new months, and the dizzying moment when the mob, having circled the palace, finally understands it is the center—a turning so complete that the world returns to where it began only to find it unrecognizable, and those who made the revolution already strangers to themselves.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English revolucion, borrowed from Old French revolucion, from Late Latin revolūtiō (“the act of revolving; revolution”), from Latin revolvō (“roll back, revolve”).
noun
- A political upheaval in a government or state characterized by great change.“The revolution had completely transformed the monarchy into a republic.”
- The popular removal and replacement of a government, especially by sudden violent action.“For a long time the dormouse and polecat had seemed to him overfeeble enemies for his restless valour, even as the granary floor seemed to afford too narrow a field. Every day he read the papers of the previous day in the servants' hall of the houses he visited, and it appeared to him that this war in America, which was hailed as the awakening of the spirit of liberty and justice in the New World,”
- Rotation: the turning of an object around an axis, one complete turn of an object during rotation.“The ratio between the speeds of revolution of wheel and disc is substantially equal to the reciprocal of the ratio between the diameter of the wheel and the diameter of the mean contact circle on the disc.”
- In the case of celestial bodies, the traversal of one body along an orbit around another body.“It takes 365 days for the Earth to complete one revolution around the sun.”
- A sudden, vast change in a situation, a discipline, or the way of thinking and behaving.“the AI revolution”
- A round of periodic changes, such as between the seasons of the year.
- Consideration of an idea; the act of revolving something in the mind.
- a rule in Tycoon where if four cards are placed down at once, the card hierarchy is reversed.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.