# revolution
## English
### Etymology

Inherited 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

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

### Noun

revolution (countable and uncountable, plural revolutions)
* (countable, politics) A political upheaval in a government or state characterized by great change.
    Hypernym: overhaul
** 1873 December [1872], Friedrich Engels, “Dell'autorità”, in Almanacco repubblicano per l'anno 1874; English translation in “On Authority”, in Marx/Engels Collected Works, volume 23, translation of original in Italian, 1988, page 425:A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and cannon — authoritarian means, if such there be at all; and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain, it must maintain this rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the reactionaries.[original: Una rivoluzione è certamente la cosa più autoritaria che ci sia: è l'atto per il quale una parte della popolazione impone la sua volontà all'altra parte per mezzo di fucili, baionette e cannoni; mezzi autoritari, se ce ne sono; e il partito vittorioso, se non vuole aver combattuto invano, deve continuare questo dominio col terrore che le sue armi inspirano ai reazionari.]
** 1938 January 15 [1937 December], Leon Trotsky, “The Lessons of Spain--The Last Warning”, in Socialist Appeal, volume 2, number 3, page 4:The essence of every revolution consisted and consists in putting a new class in power, thus enabling it to realize its own program in life.
* (countable, politics) The popular removal and replacement of a government, especially by sudden violent action.
    Hypernyms: overthrow, overthrowal, overthrowing
    Coordinate terms: coup, coup d'état, putsch
** 1837, George Sand, translated by Stanley Young, Mauprat‎, 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.
* 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 […]
* (astronomy) In the case of celestial bodies, the traversal of one body along an orbit around another body.
* A sudden, vast change in a situation, a discipline, or the way of thinking and behaving.
    Antonym: evolution
    Hyponym: quiet revolution
    the AI revolution
** 1927, Nguyễn Ái Quốc, “1. K. M. là zì?”, in Dường Kách mệnh; English translation from “1. What is a Revolution?”, in Vijay Prashad, transl., The Revolutionary Path (Selected Ho Chi Minh), translation of original in Vietnamese, 2022:Karl Marx stands for a revolution in economics. He studied capitalism, imperialism, and class struggles, clearly showing their origins, history, current manifestations and future possibilities.[Ông Các Mác là kinh tế học cách mệnh. Ông ấy nghiên cứu rõ ràng tư bản chủ nghĩa, đế quốc chủ nghĩa, giai cấp tranh đấu, vân vân ở đâu mà sinh ra; lịch sử nó thế nào, hiện tượng nó thế nào, và kết quả nó sẽ ra thế nào.][original: Ông Kac-Mac là kinh tế học K. M. Ông ấy ngiên kứu rõ ràng tư bản chủ nghĩa, dế quốc chủ ngĩa, zai kấp tranh dấu, vân vân ở dâu mà sinh ra; lịch sử nó thế nào, hiện tượng nó thế nào, và kết quả nó sẽ ra thế nào.]
* A round of periodic changes, such as between the seasons of the year.
* Consideration of an idea; the act of revolving something in the mind.

#### Usage notes

* 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.)

#### Derived terms

* agricultural revolution
* a revolution is not a dinner party
* Blue Revolution
* color revolution, colour revolution
* coloured revolution
* counter revolution
* counter-revolution
* democratic revolution
* ellipsoid of revolution
* French Revolution
* Green Revolution
* green revolution
* hyperboloid of revolution
* Industrial Revolution
* information revolution
* nerd revolution
* Orange Revolution
* palace revolution
* paraboloid of revolution
* permanent revolution
* perpetual revolution
* postrevolution
* prerevolution
* quiet revolution
* Reagan Revolution
* Revolution
* revolutionary
* revolutionize
* robot revolution
* Rose Revolution
* Russian Revolution
* sexual revolution
* solid of revolution
* surface of revolution
* the revolution will not be civilized
* the revolution will not be televised
* White Revolution

#### Related terms

* revolve

#### Descendants

* → Japanese: レボリューション (reboryūshon)

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Further reading

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

## Danish
### Etymology

From French révolution.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /rɛvolusjoːn/, [ʁɛvoluˈɕoːˀn]

### Noun

revolution c (singular definite revolutionen, plural indefinite revolutioner)
* revolution (political upheaval)
* revolution (removal and replacement of a government)
* revolution (sudden, vast change in a situation or discipline)

#### Derived terms

* revolutionere
* revolutionær

### Further reading

* revolution on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia $^{da}$

## Interlingua
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /revoluˈt͡sjon/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

revolution (plural revolutiones)
* revolution

## Middle French
### Alternative forms

* revolucion

### Etymology

Inherited from Old French revolucion.

### Noun

revolution f (plural revolutions)
* revolution (complete rotation)
* (astronomy) revolution

### References

* RÉVOLUTION on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

## Swedish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /rɛvʊlɵˈɧuːn/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

revolution c
* a revolution (upheaval, replacement of government, sudden change)

#### Related terms

* revolt
* revoltera
* revolutionsgardist