Wiktionary

revolution

See also: Revolution and révolution

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English revolucion, borrowed from Old French revolucion, from Late Latin revolūtiōnem, accusative singular of revolūtiō (“the act of revolving; revolution”), from Latin revolvō (“roll back, revolve”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌɹɛv.əˈl(j)uː.ʃən/
  • Rhymes: -uːʃən
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Hyphenation: re‧vo‧lu‧tion

Noun

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revolution (countable and uncountable, plural revolutions)

  1. A political upheaval in a government or state characterized by great change.
  2. The removal and replacement of a government, especially by sudden violent action.
    • 1837, George Sand, translated by Stanley Young, Mauprat‎[1], Cassandra Editions, published 1977, →ISBN, page 237:
      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.
  3. Rotation: the turning of an object around an axis, one complete turn of an object during rotation.
    • 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:
      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.
    • 1864, D. M. Warren, The Common-School Geography, Revised edition, H. Cowperthwait & Co., page 6:
      The Earth has two motions: a daily revolution (or turning around) upon its axis, and a yearly course around the sun.
    • 1878, George Fleming, A Text-Book of Veterinary Obstetrics, Baillière, Tindall, & Cox, page 123:
      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 […]
  4. In the case of celestial bodies, the traversal of one body along an orbit around another body.
  5. A sudden, vast change in a situation, a discipline, or the way of thinking and behaving.
  6. A round of periodic changes, such as between the seasons of the year.
  7. Consideration of an idea; the act of revolving something in the mind.

Usage notes

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  • Astronomers today do not use revolution to refer to the turning of an object about an axis: they use rotation for that, and revolution only for the traversal of a body through an orbit (which also happens around some axis). (This may be somewhat customary, however, strictly speaking, using either word for either process would not be incorrect.)

Antonyms

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  • (antonym(s) of “sudden, vast change”): evolution

Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Japanese: レボリューション (reboryūshon)

Translations

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traversal of one body through an orbit around another body
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Further reading

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  • "revolution" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 270.

Danish

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Etymology

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From French révolution.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /rɛvolusjoːn/, [ʁɛvoluˈɕoːˀn]

Noun

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revolution c (singular definite revolutionen, plural indefinite revolutioner)

  1. revolution (political upheaval)
  2. revolution (removal and replacement of a government)
  3. revolution (sudden, vast change in a situation or discipline)

Inflection

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Declension of revolution
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative revolution revolutionen revolutioner revolutionerne
genitive revolutions revolutionens revolutioners revolutionernes

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Interlingua

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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revolution (plural revolutiones)

  1. revolution

Swedish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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revolution c

  1. a revolution (upheaval, replacement of government, sudden change)

Declension

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Declension of revolution 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative revolution revolutionen revolutioner revolutionerna
Genitive revolutions revolutionens revolutioners revolutionernas
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