revolution

plural revolutions

1. countablegovernmentA political upheaval in a government or state characterized by great change.

   The revolution had completely transformed the monarchy into a republic.

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   Una rivoluzione è certamente la cosa più autoritaria che ci sia: è l'atto per il quale una parte della popolazione impone la sua volontà all'altra parte per mezzo di fucili, baionette e cannoni; mezzi autoritari, se ce ne sono; e il partito vittorioso, se non vuole aver combattuto invano, deve continuare questo dominio col terrore che le sue armi inspirano ai reazionari.

   1873 December [1872], Friedrich Engels, “Dell'autorità”, in Almanacco repubblicano per l'anno 1874; English translation in “On Authority”, in Marx/Engels Collected Works, volume 23, translation of original in Italian, 1988, page 425

   The essence of every revolution consisted and consists in putting a new class in power, thus enabling it to realize its own program in life.

   1938 January 15 [1937 December], Leon Trotsky, “The Lessons of Spain--The Last Warning”, in Socialist Appeal, volume 2, number 3, page 4

2. countablegovernmentThe popular removal and replacement of a government, especially by sudden violent action.

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   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, ought to produce a revolution in France.

   1837, George Sand, translated by Stanley Young, Mauprat, Cassandra Editions, published 1977, →ISBN, page 237

3. countableuncountableRotation: the turning of an object around an axis, one complete turn of an object during rotation.

   The Earth has two motions: a daily revolution (or turning around) upon its axis, and a yearly course around the sun.

   1864, D. M. Warren, The Common-School Geography, Revised edition, H. Cowperthwait & Co., page 6

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   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.

   1912, P. M. Heldt, The Gasoline Automobile: Its Design and Construction, Volume II: Transmission, Running Gear and Control, The Horseless Age Co., published 1913, page 147

   Numerous cases are recorded which incontestibly prove that during pregnancy, the uterus perform a half or even a complete revolution, on itself, producing torsion of the cervix […]

   1878, George Fleming, A Text-Book of Veterinary Obstetrics, Baillière, Tindall, & Cox, page 123

   Synonyms: rev, wheel

4. countableuncountableastronomyIn 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.

5. countableuncountableA sudden, vast change in a situation, a discipline, or the way of thinking and behaving.

   the AI revolution

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   Ông Kac-Mac là kinh tế học K. M. Ông ấy ngiên kứu rõ ràng tư bản chủ ngĩa, dế quốc chủ ngĩa, zai kấp tranh dấu, vân vân ở dâu mà sinh ra; lịch sử nó thế nào, hiện tượng nó thế nào, và kết quả nó sẽ ra thế nào.

   1927, Nguyễn Ái Quốc, “1. K. M. là zì?”, in Dường Kách mệnh; English translation from “1. What is a Revolution?”, in Vijay Prashad, transl., The Revolutionary Path (Selected Ho Chi Minh), translation of original in Vietnamese, 2022

   In 1825, the first public railway carried passengers across the English countryside, setting in motion not just an engineering revolution, but an industrial one too. Imagine the awe and excitement of those first passengers as they boarded the train, unaware that they were witnessing the dawn of a new era.

   2025 October 1, Richard Evans, “The value of the railway effect”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 58

   Antonyms: evolution

6. countableuncountableA round of periodic changes, such as between the seasons of the year.
7. countableuncountableConsideration of an idea; the act of revolving something in the mind.
8. countableuncountablecard gamesa rule in Tycoon where if four cards are placed down at once, the card hierarchy is reversed.

   Antonyms: counterrevolution

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of American Revolution.

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   American TV, in the black-coffee hours of a Saturday morning, had other things to focus on. On this side of the Atlantic, two and a half centuries away from the Revolution, it’s easier to take it all in as a costume party, as the royals were borne through the streets like elaborately plated desserts.

   2023 May 6, James Poniewozik, “Charles III Was Crowned King. But Can He Ever Be the Star?”, in The New York Times