Word.ws English Dictionary

ultraleft

UK/ˌʌl.tɹəˈlɛft/

ultraleft adjective: of or pertaining to ultraleftism.

Adjective

ultraleft (comparative more ultraleft or further ultraleft or farther ultraleft, superlative most ultraleft or furthest ultraleft or farthest ultraleft)

  1. Of or pertaining to ultraleftism.
    • This rejection of anything connected with bourgeois democracy would later become associated mainly with ultraleft radicalism, but its beginnings were another matter.2011, Hal Draper, chapter 13, in Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution, volume 1, section 1, page 284
  2. (derogatory, far-left) Of a leftist movement or ideology: extreme and uncompromising; sectarian.
  3. (generally) Extremely left-wing.

Noun

ultraleft (usually uncountable, plural ultralefts)

  1. (collective, usually) The strain or strains of leftism often associated with left communism, which practice rejection of both social democracy and state socialism as well as opposition to Leninism; i.e, ultraleftism.
  2. (usually, strictly) The left communist tendency characterized by a synthesis of Dutch-German council communism and Italian left communism.
  3. (broadly, usually) Italian left communism; Bordigism.
  4. (derogatory, usually, far-left) Leftism collectively considered uncompromising and sectarian, especially anti-Leninist Marxism.
  5. (countable, rare, usually) An adherent of ultraleftism.
  6. (usually, generally) The most extreme ideologies of the political left.

Forms of ultraleft

Adjective
comparativemore ultraleft
comparativefurther ultraleft
comparativefarther ultraleft
superlativemost ultraleft
superlativefurthest ultraleft
superlativefarthest ultraleft
alternative formultra-left
Noun
pluralultralefts

Origin of ultraleft

Ultimately a calque of Russian ультралевый (ulʹtralevyj, “ultraleft”, adjective), in the sense of "pertaining to extreme or uncompromising leftist ideology." From ультра- (ulʹtra-, “ultra; extremely”) + левый (levyj, “left”, adjective), equivalent to ultra- + left. Originally applied pejoratively by the Bolsheviks against libertarian socialists and early left communists, and later by Stalinists against Trotskyists; now also used neutrally to refer to certain ideologies associated with left communism or traditional Marxism. The modern meanings are partially semantically loaned from French ultra-gauche.

Words formed from ultraleft

Questions about ultraleft

What does ultraleft mean?
Ultraleft means of or pertaining to ultraleftism.
What part of speech is ultraleft?
Ultraleft can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce ultraleft?
Ultraleft is pronounced /ˌʌl.tɹəˈlɛft/ (UK).

Words near ultraleft in the dictionary

  1. ultraistic
  2. ultraists
  3. ultralaborious
  4. ultralarge
  5. ultralean
  6. ultraleft
  7. ultraleftism
  8. ultraleftisms
  9. ultraleftist
  10. ultraleftists
  11. ultralefts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ultraleft (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.

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