tankie
Syllables: tank·ie/ˈtæŋ.ki/
tankie noun: 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.
Noun
tankie (plural tankies)
- 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.
- [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.1985, Terry Bushell, “Softliners and Tankies”, in Marriage of Inconvenience: An Anglo-Soviet Alliance, London: André Deutsch, →ISBN, page 10
- Stephen Well, read the Morning Star and keep up with the tankies. / Max The tankies[…] How the years roll by. Dubcek is back. Russia agrees to withdraw its garrisons. Czechoslovakia takes her knickers off to welcome capitalism. And all that remains of August '68 is a derisive nickname for the only...2006, Tom Stoppard, Rock 'n' Roll, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN
- A supporter of policies and actions by the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, or other authoritarian socialist governments.
- Near-synonym: authcom
- As far as the Sparklies were concerned the new comics were scruffy herberts who shouted ‘Fuck Thatcher’ over and over, while raving Tankie Stalinists hooted indiscriminately in the front row.2009, Arthur Smith, My Name is Daphne Fairfax: A Memoir, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, Rooms above Pubs, pages 181–182; republished as London: Arrow Books; Random House, 2010, →ISBN
- A soldier from a tank regiment.
- 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.1981, Noel “Wig” [Frank] Gardiner, “A Team Talk with the Tankies”, in Freyberg's Circus: Reminiscences of a Kiwi Soldier in the North African Campaign of World War II, Auckland: Ray Richards...
- Breakfast was taken alongside a curious tank without a turret. When I asked about it a tankie sergeant said, 'It's a Kangaroo: that's a Sherman without a turret. The Canadians make them.[…]'2006, David Fiddimore, Charlie's War, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, page 186
- A tank engine.
- The "tankies", as they were known, shunted empty carriages from Copley Hill sidings onto the buffers at Leeds […]1987, The Railway Magazine, volume 133, London: IPC Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 382
Adjective
tankie (not comparable)
- Supporting the policies of the Soviet Union or other Marxist-Leninist governments.
Examples of tankie in a sentence
- Stephen Well, read the Morning Star and keep up with the tankies. / Max The tankies[…] How the years roll by.2006, Tom Stoppard, Rock 'n' Roll, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN:
- 'Never had you down as a tankie, sir,' he said.2010, Michael Asher, The Flaming Sword (Death or Glory; part 2), London: Michael Joseph, →ISBN:
Forms of tankie
| plural | tankies |
|---|
Origin of tankie
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.
Words that rhyme with tankie
Questions about tankie
- What does tankie mean?
- Tankie means 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.
- How do you use tankie in a sentence?
- Stephen Well, read the Morning Star and keep up with the tankies. / Max The tankies[…] How the years roll by.
- What part of speech is tankie?
- Tankie can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce tankie?
- Tankie is pronounced /ˈtæŋ.ki/.
- What is the plural of tankie?
- The plural of tankie is tankies.
Words near tankie in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tankie (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-tankie.ogg.
Cite this entry: “tankie.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tankie. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.