bolshie

English

Alternative forms

• bolshi

Etymology

From Bolshevik (Russian большеви́к (bolʹševík), the socialist party in the 1918 Russian Revolution, from Russian большевики́ (bolʹševikí, “majority faction”), +‎ -ie.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒl.ʃi/

Noun

bolshie (plural bolshies)

1. (derogatory, UK, dated) A government leftist, especially a communist, socialist, or labour union leader.

Adjective

bolshie (comparative bolshier, superlative bolshiest)

1. (UK) Difficult or rebellious.

   Kate, don't be so bolshie!

   • 1983, Bill Oddie, Gone Birding, London: Methuen, page 108:

     It's quite possible that I and my pals were nasty bolshy little schoolboys who thoroughly deserved to be thrashed through the gorse bushes in the dead of the night[.]

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 16, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

     Rachel came in, and Nick felt he'd been caught larking about, Catherine squashing him like some bolshie teenage attempt at seduction.

   • 2026 January 2, Nathan Bevan, “Weight-loss jabs MP faced 'constant cruel abuse' from trolls”, in BBC News‎^[1]:

     "How I looked or what I was wearing had become more import than my politics, " the 65-year-old told BBC Wales Breakfast. "I can be bolshie if I'm fighting for a cause or for someone else, but deep down I'm very sensitive."

Alternative forms

• bolshy

Synonyms

• contrary
• contumacious
• perverse
• recalcitrant

Related terms

• Bolshevik
• bolshiness