Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun historical, pejorative Soviet sympathizer in Western countries, from the perspective of the political right.
  • noun pejorative One who is seen to unwittingly support a malignant cause through their 'naive' attempts to be a force for good.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The earliest known usage in Western media is in a 1948 article in the social-democratic Italian paper L'Umanita - as cited in the New York Times article on Italian politics.

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Examples

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