revolution
Pluralrevolutions
- 1The overthrow of a government or political system, usually by the people it rules, often sudden and violent and bringing sweeping change.
The 1789 revolution swept away the French monarchy within a few years.
Workers and soldiers joined the revolution that toppled the old regime.
UsageNamed ones take capitals: the French Revolution, the American Revolution; also a revolution against a ruler.
Note
The weight falls on who acts and how fast: usually the people remove a government, often suddenly and by force, and install another. A seizure of power by a small group at the top is usually called a coup, though one that goes on to remake a whole state may be remembered as a revolution. Even an upheaval that unfolds over years is treated as one event, so it often carries a date or a place, as in the 1789 revolution.
- 2A sudden, far-reaching change in a situation, a field of knowledge, or a way of thinking and acting.
The digital revolution transformed how businesses store and analyze information.
Her research sparked a quiet revolution in how doctors treat chronic pain.
UsageUsually with a word for what changed: the digital revolution, a revolution in medicine.
Similartransformation, upheaval, shift
Oppositeevolution
Note
The figurative sense names whole eras of change: the AI revolution, the industrial revolution. Richard Evans, writing in RAIL in 2025, says the 1825 railway set off "not just an engineering revolution, but an industrial one too." Its natural opposite is evolution, which is change by gradual steps rather than a sudden break.
- 3The act of spinning about an axis, or a single full turn made while spinning.
The engine reaches six thousand revolutions per minute at full throttle.
With every revolution of the wheel, the old cart gave a loud squeak.
UsageSpeed is counted in revolutions per minute, often shortened to rpm.
Note
Engineers count it in speeds of revolution and revolutions per minute, and they clip it to rev. D. M. Warren's The Common-School Geography gives the Earth "a daily revolution" on its axis. Astronomy now keeps that use apart from travel along an orbit.
Less common meanings
- 4The travel of one celestial body along its orbit around another.
A single revolution of Jupiter around the Sun takes almost twelve Earth years.
Astronomers timed the comet's revolution to predict its return.
UsageUsually a revolution around something: one revolution around the Sun. In astronomy, spinning on an axis is rotation.
Note
Astronomy draws a careful line: a planet rotates to make its day and revolves to make its year. One revolution of the Earth around the sun takes a little over 365 days. Everyday English also uses revolution for turning on an axis, but in astronomy that motion is rotation.
- 5
- 6The act of turning an idea over in the mind; careful mental consideration of something.
Note
Thought as turning: to revolve a matter in the mind is to roll it around and view it from every side. The Latin "roll back, revolve" behind a literal turn is here put to mental use. Don't mistake it for sweeping change. A revolution in someone's thinking is an upheaval, while this meaning is the careful turning over of one idea.
Practice
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Origin
This word came into Middle English from Old French revolucion, which came from Late Latin revolūtiō ("the act of revolving"), based on Latin revolvō meaning "roll back, revolve."
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- English inherited the word through Middle English, which borrowed it from Old French revolucion. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French revolucion came from Late Latin revolūtiō, meaning 'the act of revolving'. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin revolūtiō is formed from revolvō. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin revolvō means 'roll back, revolve'. en.wiktionary.org