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revolutionary group

revolutionary group

1 5.1
A group of people who try to change or remove a government by force
  • noun
  • /ˌrɛvəˈluːʃənɛri ɡruːp/
translation icon : grupo revolucionario
  • Of greater concern, in view of its stated respect for non-interference in African countries, China established a record during the 1960s of supporting several African revolutionary groups that opposed governments in independent countries such as the Congo, Burundi, Niger, and Cameroon.
  • support for revolutionary groups

Examples

  • After a bloody struggle, the Mexican army drove the Zapatistas into Chiapas' jungle regions, where they continue to be the most organized and popular revolutionary group in the country.

    Academic text (1998)
  • To avoid being seen as aggressors and invaders, the Rwandan and Ugandan governments immediately sponsored the creation of an alliance of small and obscure exiled anti-Mobutu Congolese revolutionary groups.

    Academic text (2004)
  • But we are looking into every anarchist or revolutionary group we know of, and we do know of most of them.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • For all I know, she could have been assassinated by some revolutionary group, but I probably would have heard about it on the news.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Ruholla coordinated our efforts with various revolutionary groups in France and Britain.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Twenty years ago... ...they were a struggling Marxist revolutionary group in the mountains.

  • Most are concerned with the drug problem, both as a threat to conventional morals and as a potential source of financing for revolutionary groups.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Mexican states with large numbers of indigenous peoples have witnessed escalating rural violence between the national army and small revolutionary groups (McDonald 2001; Morton 2003).

    Academic text (2008)
  • The APRA, as a movement and as an ideology, had influenced other revolutionary groups in Latin America (such as the Sandinistas in Nicaragua), a heritage in which the party took great pride.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Last year, a new revolutionary group emerged to challenge the existing political regime in the country.

Synonyms

resistance
vsrevolutionary group
412 5.5

Armed action by a group against an enemy or occupying force

is an organized political entity rather than primarily an act of fighting
political movement
vsrevolutionary group
19 3.2

A group of people who work together to change laws or government policy

aims specifically to replace the existing system rather than any single goal
underground
vsrevolutionary group
9 7.9

A secret group that tries to resist or overthrow a government

is more open and not necessarily covert in its actions

Antonyms

236 5.3

The people in power in a country or organization

How Revolutionary

insurgent
  • Literature
93 8.6
radical
79 6.3
revolutionary group
1 5.1
opposition
386 3.5

Surface Forms

Morphology

revolutionary + group

The meaning 'a political organization formed to promote or carry out revolution' is directly derivable from combining 'revolutionary' (supporting radical political or social transformation) with 'group' (a collection of people). This is a straightforward adjectival + noun composition with no idiomatic shift, and similar constructions occur in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Revolutionary group comes from the idea of a 'revolution' as a big turning or change in how a country is run. Imagine many people turning a large wheel together to move the old system aside; a revolutionary group is a set of people who try to make that major political change, so the phrase means an organization formed to carry out a revolution.