Tankie
adj, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) who supported the Soviet Union's policy of crushing revolts in Hungary in the 1950s and Czechoslovakia in the 1960s by sending tanks into those countries. UK, historical, slang
"[W]e also desired to shock the staid older party members and the tankies. The tankies and softliners differed as to what sort of magazine Challenge should be."
- 2 A supporter of policies and actions by the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, or other authoritarian socialist governments. broadly, slang
"Near-synonym: authcom"
- 3 A soldier from a tank regiment. slang
"Obviously a thrust by the tankies over the ridge and through the minefield was just not on, there and then in broad daylight, a fact they appeared to recognise. At that stage the Germans were well positioned to give them a warm reception with their powerful 88s and other artillery."
- 4 A tank engine. slang
"The "tankies", as they were known, shunted empty carriages from Copley Hill sidings onto the buffers at Leeds […]"
- 1 Supporting the policies of the Soviet Union or other Marxist-Leninist governments. derogatory, not-comparable, slang
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"[W]e also desired to shock the staid older party members and the tankies. The tankies and softliners differed as to what sort of magazine Challenge should be."
Etymology
From tank + -ie (diminutive suffix). Sense 1 and, by extension, sense 2 were named for the tanks used by the Soviet Union against uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
Related phrases
More for "tankie"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.