1
: a member of any of a number of autonomous communities drawn from various ethnic and linguistic groups (such as Slavs, Tatars, and Circassians) that formed in Ukraine, southern Russia, the Caucasus Mountains, and Siberia after about 1400 and that were completely incorporated into czarist Russia during the 18th and 19th centuries
2
: a mounted soldier serving in a unit drafted from Cossack communities
Examples of Cossack in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
British forces also handed over to Soviet authorities Cossacks who were Soviet citizens but had fought for Germany.
—
Antony Beevor, Foreign Affairs, 7 May 2025
Two years later, they were attacked by Cossacks with whips and pepper spray at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
—Lincoln Anderson, New York Daily News, 2 Apr. 2025
After a series of unsuccessful Cossack uprisings against Poland, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s rebellion of 1648 developed into a peasant war and national revolution, resulting in the creation of an autonomous Cossack polity in what is now central Ukraine.
—Karina Zaiets, USA TODAY, 13 Dec. 2013
Military setbacks forced Khmelnytsky to search for allies, and after the Pereyaslav Treaty of 1654, the Cossack lands became a protectorate of the Russian tsars.
—Karina Zaiets, USA TODAY, 13 Dec. 2013
Vani Subramanian India, 2025 Cossacks in Exile dir.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Jan. 2025
His books include Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins and The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack: And Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution.
—Ian Tattersall, The New York Review of Books, 28 Nov. 2024
His involvement made him, alternatively, friend and foe to an ascendant politician: Reza Shah Pahlavi (then known as Reza Khan), an officer in the Russian-style Persian Cossack Brigade.
—Francine Uenuma, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Sep. 2024
In a school classroom, pre-teens eagerly sing traditional Cossack victory anthems before an air-raid siren prompts them to relocate to a bunker where class continues as before — even the kids doing so with an unfazed efficiency that smacks of routine.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 4 July 2024
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Antony Beevor, Foreign Affairs, 7 May 2025
Two years later, they were attacked by Cossacks with whips and pepper spray at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
—Lincoln Anderson, New York Daily News, 2 Apr. 2025
After a series of unsuccessful Cossack uprisings against Poland, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s rebellion of 1648 developed into a peasant war and national revolution, resulting in the creation of an autonomous Cossack polity in what is now central Ukraine.
—Karina Zaiets, USA TODAY, 13 Dec. 2013
Military setbacks forced Khmelnytsky to search for allies, and after the Pereyaslav Treaty of 1654, the Cossack lands became a protectorate of the Russian tsars.
—Karina Zaiets, USA TODAY, 13 Dec. 2013
Vani Subramanian India, 2025 Cossacks in Exile dir.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Jan. 2025
His books include Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins and The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack: And Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution.
—Ian Tattersall, The New York Review of Books, 28 Nov. 2024
His involvement made him, alternatively, friend and foe to an ascendant politician: Reza Shah Pahlavi (then known as Reza Khan), an officer in the Russian-style Persian Cossack Brigade.
—Francine Uenuma, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Sep. 2024
In a school classroom, pre-teens eagerly sing traditional Cossack victory anthems before an air-raid siren prompts them to relocate to a bunker where class continues as before — even the kids doing so with an unfazed efficiency that smacks of routine.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 4 July 2024
Cite this Entry
“Cossack.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Cossack. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Cossack
noun
Cos·sack
ˈkäs-ˌak 
-ək
1
: a member of any of the groups that formed in Ukraine, southern Russia, the Caucasus, and Siberia after 1400 and were included in czarist Russia during the 18th and 19th centuries
2
: a mounted soldier serving in a unit drafted from Cossack communities
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