Yugoslav

Y4U1G2O1S1L1A1V4
/ˈjuːɡəˌslɑːv/

adjective

Of, relating to, or characteristic of Yugoslavia or Yugoslavs.

“He considered himself to be a Yugoslav first and foremost, regardless of his Croat and Serb ancestry.”

Less commonScrabble 15

Meanings

adjectiveYugoslav (comparative more Yugoslav, superlative most Yugoslav)

comparative more Yugoslav · superlative most Yugoslav · alternative dated Jugoslav

  1. historicalOf, relating to, or characteristic of Yugoslavia or Yugoslavs.

    Due to Greek objections, North Macedonia was often referred to as the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" for many years.

    5 more examples

    A small band of men, all very Yugoslav-looking, were sitting in the bar, talking politics.

    1966 March 12, Georgie Anne Geyer, “[Challenges] Georgie Anne Geyer interviews an ex-Nazi SS officer in exile at Earth’s end”, in Dick Griffin, Rob Warden, editors, Done in a Day: 100 Years of Great Writing from The Chicago Daily News, Chicago, Ill.: The Swallow Press Inc., published 1977, →ISBN, page 435

    Titoism was a local variety of Stalinism, very Yugoslav in its nature but also very totalitarian.

    1993, Jacek Kurczewski, “Stalinism as Crime”, in The Resurrection of Rights in Poland, Oxford, Oxon: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, page 34

    But most alarming at the assembly in Vladikavkaz was the evident hatred of the Chechens, the lurid talk of Chechen atrocities, and of most of Chechnya being ‘ancient Terek Cossack land’, for which ‘we must fight to the last Cossack, after the glorious example of our ancestors’ – all very Yugoslav.

    1998, Anatol Lieven, “Failure of the Serbian Option, 1: The Collapse of the ‘Cossacks’”, in Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, part II (The Russian Defeat), page 229

    Milka also spoke of her sister’s reaction to the collapse of the former Yugoslavia and ongoing media reports of the conflict. The participant’s sister was, before the war: / … very Yugoslav, she adored Yugoslavia and that’s why she’s so hurt.

    2000, Nicholas G. Procter, “The Experience of Long Distance Devastation: Globalisation of Worry”, in Serbian Australians in the Shadow of the Balkan War, Aldershot, Hants.; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, →ISBN, page 128

    In the summer of 1991, in the disputed areas of Croatia, the army vainly searched for an aim to justify its existence. It fought a war against Croatian independentists on behalf of a Serbian ‘Yugoslav’ leadership which had not officially entered a war that was not declared, and allowed outside gangs to do most of the dirty work. It did this allegedly to save Yugoslavia. In the process the very mixed and very Yugoslav town of Vukovar was destroyed before it fell, Dubrovnik was blockaded and shelled, and its surroundings were pillaged by military units and volunteers from Montenegro.

    2002, Stevan K[osta] Pavlowitch, “Serbia in Darkness – The Milošević Years: the 1990s”, in Serbia: The History behind the Name, London: Hurst & Company, →ISBN, page 207

    Synonyms: Yugoslavian, Yugoslavic

nounYugoslav (plural Yugoslavs)

plural Yugoslavs · alternative dated Jugoslav

  1. historicalA native or inhabitant of Yugoslavia.

    He considered himself to be a Yugoslav first and foremost, regardless of his Croat and Serb ancestry.

    1 more example

    Much of the younger generation moves to the cities or joins the ranks of Yugoslavs working abroad.

    1990 August, Kenneth C. Danforth, “Yugoslavia: A House Much Divided”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, page 99

    Synonyms: Yugoslavian

proper noun

alternative dated Jugoslav

  1. datednonstandardotherwise by extensionSerbo-Croatian language

    He is an educated man, speaking English, French, Spanish, Yugoslav, Russian and German, and he saw service in the Army and understands espionage.

    2002, Graeme Mount, chapter 3, in Personal Secretary’s File, Bowers to Welles, 16 March 1942, quoted in Chile and the Nazis, Black Rose Books, →ISBN, page 70

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveOf, relating to, or characteristic of Yugoslavia or Yugoslavs.

nounA native or inhabitant of Yugoslavia.

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiveof or relating to or characteristic of the former country of Yugoslavia or its people or languages

nouna native or inhabitant of Yugoslavia

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Serbo-CroatianJugoslàvēn
  2. EnglishYugoslav

From Serbo-Croatian Jugoslàvēn ("Southern Slav"), influenced by Slav.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Yugoslav. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yugoslav

MLA

“Yugoslav.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yugoslav. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Yugoslav,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yugoslav.

Source: Yugoslav on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.