nomenklatura

[ noh-muhn-klah-toor-uh ]

noun

, plural no·men·kla·tu·ras.

1. a select list or class of people from which appointees for top-level government positions are drawn, especially from a Communist Party.

nomenklatura

/ ˌnəʊmɛnkləˈtʃuːrə /

noun

1. (formerly, in the USSR and E Europe) a list of individuals drawn up by the Communist Party from which were selected candidates for vacant senior positions in the state, party, and other important organizations

Word History and Origins

Origin of nomenklatura¹

First recorded in 1980–85, nomenklatura is from the Russian word nomenklatúra literally, nomenclature

Word History and Origins

Origin of nomenklatura¹

C20: Russian, from Latin nōmenclātūra list of names

Example Sentences

Notice the cartoonish postures of his guards and the obsequious deference of the nomenklatura, receiving him in ways that suggest that Putin's curse may truly be Russia's.

From Salon

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a new generation of leaders rose in the former republics, but Belarus remained under old Soviet nomenklatura rule even after independence.

From New York Times

Then their lives get consumed by their university love affair and, finally, by Gorbachev’s rise to the top through the ranks of party nomenklatura.

From New York Times

And he’s clearly a threat to the Democratic party status quo — its large donors and its nomenklatura would be on the outs in a Sanders administration.

From The Guardian

The first red hippies were the sons or daughters of the privileged Soviet nomenklatura – well-behaved kids from elite families.

From The Guardian