samizdat

noun

sa·​miz·​dat ˈsä-mēz-ˌdät 

: a system in the Soviet Union and countries within its orbit by which government-suppressed literature was clandestinely printed and distributed

also : such literature

Examples of samizdat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In an era in which politicians are focus-grouped to the point of parody, the exchange felt like samizdat smuggled across the borders of liberal piety. —Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2026

In response, samizdat (self-publishing) emerged. —Jennifer Lutz, New York Daily News, 19 Feb. 2026

Agents later discovered a samizdat archive of Mamleev’s writings at the home of Dugin’s parents. —James Verini, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2025

An apocalyptic adventure story teeming with rock and rollers, samizdat books, worker rebellions, and underground societies, the novel envisions this land and its future not as utopian or dystopian, necessarily, but rather as a site of branching possibilities. —David L. Ulin, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Russian, from sam- self- + izdatel'stvo publishing house

First Known Use

1967, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for samizdat

• aeronaut
• aforethought
• afterthought
• apricot
• argonaut
• astronaut
• camelot
• coffeepot
• concordat
• cosmonaut
• entrepot
• flowerpot