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

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

His political disillusionment is recounted in this semi-autobiographical novel, which, because of its anti-Stalinist bent, had to be printed in installments by samizdat (a clandestine network of underground publishers). —Pamela Newton, The Atlantic, 7 July 2024

The Palace premiered last fall at the Venice Film Festival and is now being circulated unofficially — like samizdat. —Armond White, National Review, 14 Feb. 2024

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