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Meaning of nomenklatura | Babel Free

Noun CEFR C1
nɒˌmɛnkləˈtjʊəɹə

Definitions

  1. A list of bureaucratic posts in government and industry in the former Soviet Union and other communist countries, filled by those appointed by the Party.
  2. The people on such lists; (by extension), any privileged class, a social or political elite.

Equivalents

Examples

“[Gorbachev] did not champion perestroika and glasnost alone; much of the nomenklatura had decided that the Soviet economic and social model was dysfunctional, corrupt and endemically inefficient and had to change.”
“Communism envisioned […] an Authority Ranking of political control (in theory, the dictatorship of the proletariat; in practice, a nomenklatura of commissars under a charismatic dictator).”
“During the long rule of Leonid Brezhnev (1964–1982), the nomenklatura had cemented their power in the system.”

CEFR level

C1
Advanced
This word is part of the CEFR C1 vocabulary — advanced level.
See all C1 English words →

See also

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