Lech Walesa

6 7.6

Polish labour leader who co-founded Solidarity and was president of Poland from 1990 to 1995

proper noun
/lɛx wɑˈlɛnsə/

: Lech Walesa

As president, Lech Walesa helped guide Poland through its transition to democracy.

Examples

Many people admire Lech Walesa for his leadership of the Solidarity movement.
Many people admire Lech Walesa for his leadership of the Solidarity movement.
Lech Walesa played a crucial role in the fall of communism in Poland.
In 1990, Lech Walesa became the first democratically elected President of Poland.
Did Lech Walesa really co-found the Solidarity movement?
Lech Walesa played a crucial role in the fall of communism in Poland.
As president, Lech Walesa helped guide Poland through its transition to democracy.

Synonyms

Walesa

vsLech Walesa

10 8.4

A Polish union leader and president who helped end communist rule

gives full details with specific presidential dates and founding role

Surface Forms

Lech Walesa main

Morphology

Lech + Walesa

This is a proper name referring to a specific historical person; the referential meaning (Polish labor leader and president) is world knowledge rather than a compositional meaning derivable from the name parts. Proper nouns are arbitrary and must be learned as single lexical items, so knowing the constituent words does not allow a B1 learner to infer the MWE's full meaning.

Etymology

Lech Walesa is the name of a Polish shipyard worker who helped start the worker group Solidarity and later became president of Poland. Because he rose from ordinary workers to lead a peaceful end to communist rule, his name now stands for 'worker leadership' and 'peaceful political change'.