revolutionist

/rɛvəˈluʃɪnɪst/

/rɛvəˈluʃɪnɪst/

Other forms: revolutionists

Whether you’re overthrowing a government or protesting an unjust law, you could be called a revolutionist, someone who works for political or social change.

A revolutionist is someone who wants to change the world — not just sitting around talking about it, but actually doing something to bring about change. Like its synonyms revolutionary and radical, a revolutionist is someone who questions authority, maybe by taking part in a demonstration to protest a government policy or by otherwise pointing out thing that he or she believes is wrong with society — then acting to try to fix it.

Definitions of revolutionist

1. noun

   a radical supporter of political or social revolution
   synonyms: revolutionary, subversive, subverter

   examples:

   Marie Anne Charlotte Corday d'Armont

   French revolutionary heroine (a Girondist) who assassinated Marat (1768-1793)

   Georges Jacques Danton

   French revolutionary leader who stormed the Paris bastille and who supported the execution of Louis XVI but was guillotined by Robespierre for his opposition to the Reign of Terror (1759-1794)

   Ernesto Guevara

   an Argentine revolutionary leader who was Fidel Castro's chief lieutenant in the Cuban revolution; active in other Latin American countries; was captured and executed by the Bolivian army (1928-1967)

   Mao Tsetung

   Chinese communist leader (1893-1976)

   Jean Paul Marat

   French revolutionary leader (born in Switzerland) who was a leader in overthrowing the Girondists and was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday (1743-1793)

   Jose Julian Marti

   Cuban poet and revolutionary who fought for Cuban independence from Spain (1853-1895)

   Karl Marx

   founder of modern communism; wrote the Communist Manifesto with Engels in 1848; wrote Das Kapital in 1867 (1818-1883)

   Honore-Gabriel Victor Riqueti

   French revolutionary who was prominent in the early days of the French Revolution (1749-1791)

   Maxmillien Marie Isidore de Robespierre

   French revolutionary; leader of the Jacobins and architect of the Reign of Terror; was himself executed in a coup d'etat (1758-1794)

   Lev Davidovich Bronstein

   Russian revolutionary and Communist theorist who helped Lenin and built up the army; he was ousted from the Communist Party by Stalin and eventually assassinated in Mexico (1879-1940)

   Francisco Villa

   Mexican revolutionary leader (1877-1923)

   Emiliano Zapata

   Mexican revolutionary who led a revolt for agrarian reforms (1879-1919)

   Chou En-lai

   Chinese revolutionary and communist leader (1898-1976)

   types:

   counter-revolutionist, counterrevolutionary, counterrevolutionist

   a revolutionary whose aim is to reverse the changes introduced by an earlier revolution

   dynamiter, dynamitist

   a person who uses dynamite in a revolutionary cause

   Girondin, Girondist

   a member of the moderate republican party that was in power during the French Revolution; the Girondists were overthrown by their more radical rivals the Jacobins

   freedom fighter, insurgent, insurrectionist, rebel

   a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against the constituted authority (especially in the hope of improving conditions)

   sans-culotte

   an extreme revolutionary or republican

   mutineer

   someone who is openly rebellious and refuses to obey authorities (especially seamen or soldiers)

   Young Turk

   a member of one or more of the insurgent groups in Turkey in the late 19th century who rebelled against the absolutism of Ottoman rule

   type of:

   radical

   a person who has radical ideas or opinions