Perestroika

//pɛɹ.ɪˈstɹɔɪ.kə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A program of political and economic reform carried out in the Soviet Union in the 1980s and early 1990s under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev. historical, uncountable

    "Gorbachev would introduce glasnost (openness and freedom) and perestroika (economic restructuring) to Russia under his tenure, ultimately freeing thousands of political prisoners and dissidents and trying to address the shortages in food and goods that had become the hallmarks of the failing Soviet economy."

  2. 2
    an economic policy adopted in the former Soviet Union; intended to increase automation and labor efficiency but it led eventually to the end of central planning in the Russian economy wordnet
  3. 3
    The period of time in the Soviet Union during which these reforms were carried out and in effect. historical, uncountable
  4. 4
    A situation where a small variation of parameters leads to a sudden change in properties. countable

Example

More examples

"From the beginning of the Perestroika, many starry-eyed members of the intelligentsia believed that from now on, everything with us would be "like in the West"."

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian перестро́йка (perestrójka, “restructuring”).

Related phrases

doi moisoviet union

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.