Communistic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to a political system where property is collectively owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs
2. Pertaining to a socioeconomic ideology advocating for the establishment of a classless society through communal ownership of resources
3. Characterized by the belief in abolishing private ownership and promoting equality through shared wealth and resources

Etymology: The history of "communistic" is essentially the history of "communist" with an adjective ending bolted on. The root goes back to the Latin "communis," meaning "common" or "shared," which passed into Old French as "comun" and then into French as "commun." Eventually French produced "communiste," and English borrowed that as "communist." Once "communist" was established as a noun and adjective, English speakers added the suffix "-ic," which comes from Latin "-icus" by way of Old French "-ique" and Middle English "-ik," to form an adjective describing things relating to or characteristic of that doctrine. The suffix is the older and more widely inherited piece here. "-ic" has been used for centuries to turn nouns into adjectives, as in "public" and "music," and the same ending appears in countless scientific and political terms. Because it is so productive, "communistic" sits alongside a family of similar formations, and it carries the same basic sense of "characterized by" or "in the manner of" that the word's definition describes.

Synonyms: socialistic, collectivist, leftist

Antonyms: capitalist, individualistic