refusenik

American  

[ri-fyooz-nik] / rɪˈfyuz nɪk /

Or refusnik

noun

Informal.

1. a Soviet citizen, usually Jewish, who was denied permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union.

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refusenik British  

/ rɪˈfjuːznɪk /

noun

1. (formerly) a Jew in the Soviet Union who had been refused permission to emigrate

2. a person who refuses to cooperate with a system or comply with a law because of a moral conviction

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Etymology

Origin of refusenik

1970–75; refuse ¹ + -nik, perhaps translation of Russian otkáznik (unless the Russ word is itself a translation of refusenik )

Example Sentences

The Professor never thought he’d be a refusenik one day too.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 25, 2023

Carter publicly supported dissidents in the Soviet Union such as physicist Andrei Sakharov and refusenik Nathan Sharansky.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 22, 2023

After getting a secret greenlight in March 1990, Mr. Reichmann was aboard his private plane to Lithuania to pick up refusenik Raiz and his son.

From Washington Post • Jan. 10, 2023

It was not for nothing that he was known as Israel’s relentless refusenik.

From The Guardian • Sep. 13, 2018

In 2014, for a show of his work at the Brooklyn Museum, the Chinese artist and refusenik Ai Weiwei created an installation called “Ye Haiyan’s Belongings.”

From New York Times • Jul. 21, 2016