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Meaning & use

revolutionary

adjective, noun·Academic

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UK/ˌrevəˈluːʃənəri/
US/ˌrevəˈluːʃəneri/

Meanings

  1. adjectivecomparable

    Bringing a very big and important change to the way something is done or understood.

    Grammar: Used before a noun or after a verb: a revolutionary idea; the design is revolutionary.

    Patterns

    • a revolutionary idea
    • revolutionary in something

    The printing press was a revolutionary invention.

    Her revolutionary teaching method changed how the whole school taught math.

    The software was revolutionary when it first appeared.

  2. adjectivebefore a noun

    Connected with a political revolution or with trying to overthrow a government by force.

    Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: revolutionary leaders, a revolutionary war.

    Patterns

    • revolutionary leader
    • revolutionary movement

    The revolutionary government took control of the capital within days.

    Students filled the streets with revolutionary slogans.

    The museum displays letters from the revolutionary period.

  3. nouncountable

    A person who takes part in or strongly supports a political revolution.

    Grammar: A countable noun: a young revolutionary, several revolutionaries.

    Patterns

    • a revolutionary against something

    He was a revolutionary who spent years in exile.

    The poet was celebrated as a revolutionary by the new government.

Word forms

pluralrevolutionaries

Common combinations

revolutionary change
The town hall promised revolutionary change in how services are delivered.
truly revolutionary
The drug is truly revolutionary for patients with the disease.
revolutionary new
They launched a revolutionary new battery.
revolutionary leader
The revolutionary leader addressed the crowd from a balcony.
revolutionary war
Her great-grandfather wrote a diary during the revolutionary war.

Synonyms and how they differ

groundbreaking
Groundbreaking praises something new and important in its field, but it need not overturn the whole system the way revolutionary does.
radical
Radical describes changes that go to the root of something and can sound alarming, while revolutionary is more often admiring in technology and science.
innovative
Innovative means using new ideas, but the change may be small, whereas revolutionary implies a dramatic shift.
rebel
Rebel, as a noun, resists authority in general, while revolutionary aims to replace a whole political system.

Opposites

conventionaltraditional

Word family

revolution noun
a sudden big change, or the overthrow of a government
revolutionize verb
to change something completely
revolutionist noun
an older word for a revolutionary
revolutionary noun
a person who works for political revolution
counterrevolutionary adjective
opposed to a revolution

Commonly confused: revolutionary or evolutionary?

revolutionary vs evolutionary

Evolutionary describes slow, gradual development, while revolutionary describes sudden and dramatic change.

Practice

Unlike the slow, step-by-step upgrades of earlier years, the new engine was truly ____ and replaced the old design entirely.

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