Definition of GULAG

gulag

Plural: gulags

Noun

  • A system of Soviet forced-labor camps.
  • a Russian prison camp for political prisoners
  • Also GULAG: the system of all Soviet labour camps and prisons in use, especially during the Stalinist period (1930s–1950s).
  • A prison camp, especially one used to hold political prisoners.
  • A place where, or political system in which, people with dissident views are routinely oppressed.

Verb

  • To compel (someone) into a forced labour camp or a similar place of confinement or exile.

Examples

  • He felt trapped in a GULAG of vowels, unable to make any decent words from his rack.

Origin / Etymology

Borrowed from Russian ГУЛА́Г (GULÁG), the acronym of Гла́вное управле́ние исправи́тельно-трудовы́х лагере́й (Glávnoje upravlénije ispravítelʹno-trudovýx lageréj, “Chief Administration of Corrective-Labor Camps”), the government agency in charge of the Soviet Union’s network of forced labour camps, which was established in 1918 and formally abolished in 1960: see GULAG.

Scrabble Score: 7

gulag: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
gulag: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
gulag: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

gulag: valid Words With Friends Word