Zhdanovism, n.

zhdanovism
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zhdanovism_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# Zhdanovismnoun

## Earlier version

- Zhdanovism in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zhdanovism mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun Zhdanovism. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the noun Zhdanovism?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1950 | 0.013
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.01
1980 | 0.0094
1990 | 0.01
2000 | 0.0093
2010 | 0.0068

### How is the noun Zhdanovism pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈʒdɑːnəvɪz(ə)m/
/ˈʒdɑːnəfɪz(ə)m/

### Where does the noun Zhdanovism come from?

Earliest known use

1950s

The earliest known use of the noun Zhdanovism is in the 1950s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zhdanovism is from 1958, in Encounter.

From a proper name, combined with an English element.

Etymons: proper name Zhdanov, ‑ism suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zeugmatography, n. 1973–
2. zeunerite, n. 1873–
3. Zeus, n.¹ 1587–
4. Zeus, n.² 1601–
5. Zeus-like, adj. & adv. 1850–
6. Zeuxian, adj. 1635–
7. Zeuxis, n. 1577–
8. Zeuxis-like, adj. 1665–
9. zeuxite, n. 1836–
10. zeze, n. 1860–
11. Zhdanovism, n.1958–
12. Zhdanovist, adj. 1966–
13. Zhdanovite, adj. 1957–
14. zho, n. 1841–
15. zhomo, n. 1841–
16. zhuyin zimu, n. 1938–
17. zhuzh, n. 1968–
18. zhuzh, v. 1970–
19. zhuzhy, adj. 1968–
20. ziamet, n. 1807–
21. ziarat, n. 1776–

## Etymology

### Summary

From a proper name, combined with an English element.
Etymons: proper name Zhdanov, ‑ism suffix.
< the name Zhdanov (1896–1948), Russian politician + ‑ism suffix.

## Meaning & use

1. 1958–
   The policy of rigorous ideological control of literature and cultural life generally that was developed in the post-war period by A. A. Zhdanov (1896–1948), Russian politician.
   1. 1958

      > The ideal of Zhdanovism was, precisely, the reduction of literature to ‘a small cog and a small screw’ in the mechanism of the totalitarian state.

      Encounter November 35/1
   2. 1962

      > The heyday of Zhdanovism, 1946–1952.

      H. Swayze, Polit. Control Lit. in U.S.S.R., 1946–59 ii. 26 (heading)
   3. 1977

      > Socialist realism he gives deservedly short shift. But the practice of Zhdanovism does not exhaust the subject.

      Times Literary Supplement 21 January 76/4
   politics
   1. Bukharinism 1949–
      The political principles of Bukharin.
   2. Khrushchevism 1957–
      The practice or principles of Khrushchev, notable for his denunciation of Stalin and his advocacy of peaceful coexistence with the Western powers.
   3. Zhdanovism 1958–
      The policy of rigorous ideological control of literature and cultural life generally that was developed in the post-war period by A. A. Zhdanov…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. thought control 1934–
      The control of a person's thoughts by some other agency; esp. the attempt by a government to restrict ideas and impose opinions by such means as…
   2. Zhdanovism 1958–
      The policy of rigorous ideological control of literature and cultural life generally that was developed in the post-war period by A. A. Zhdanov…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈʒdɑːnəvɪz(ə)m/
/ˈʒdɑːnəfɪz(ə)m/

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

## Frequency

Zhdanovism typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

Zhdanovism is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of Zhdanovism, n., 1950–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1950 | 0.013
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.01
1980 | 0.0094
1990 | 0.01
2000 | 0.0093
2010 | 0.0068

Zhdanovism, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

Zhdanovism, n. was last modified in December 2024.