Subbotnik
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A Saturday designated for community volunteer work, such as cleaning the streets, after the October Revolution in Russia. historical
"In any society there are the mavericks and you will find them among the Soviet students too—just as you will find the committed Komsomol activists, who take the attendance register, organise the subbotniki (the cleaning-up of the hostels and yards), run the student council, organise political meetings and write references for job applicants).^([sic])"
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of subbotnik. alt-of
- 3 One who took part in this work. historical
"Though the individual was the initiator, his or her success enlisted others in group movements, such as the Subbotniks, who in 1919 gave every Saturday (Subbota) without pay to work on the railroads, repairing cars and engines and loading freight; […]"
- 4 A member of a Russian sect of Sabbath keepers / Sabbatarians. capitalized, often
"The Molokane split into Subbotniki (Saturday-observers) and Voskresniki (Sunday-observers). Although the former were by far the less numerous wing, they themselves produced several subgroups. Many Subbotniki thought of themselves as the “New Israel” and rejected the notion that Jesus was God in any sense; but they also rejected the Talmud and the notion that a Messiah was to be expected who would be a king as well as prophet. In contrast, the Subbotniki of the Caucasus were closer to Judaism; they accepted the Talmud, expected a Messiah-king, and used Jewish prayers in Russian translation."
Example
More examples"In any society there are the mavericks and you will find them among the Soviet students too—just as you will find the committed Komsomol activists, who take the attendance register, organise the subbotniki (the cleaning-up of the hostels and yards), run the student council, organise political meetings and write references for job applicants).^([sic])"
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian суббо́тник (subbótnik), from суббо́та (subbóta, “Saturday”) + -ник (-nik).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.