politburo

noun

po·​lit·​bu·​ro ˈpä-lət-ˌbyu̇r-(ˌ)ō How to pronounce politburo (audio)
ˈpō-lət-, 
pə-ˈlit- How to pronounce politburo (audio)
: the principal policymaking and executive committee of a Communist party

Examples of politburo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Key members of this new politburo style system have been laid out by multiple security sources. — Ian Pannell, ABC News, 24 Apr. 2026 Last year, Xi revealed an all-male politburo with no women in the party’s leadership committee for the first time since 1997. — Charlie Campbell / Taipei, TIME, 13 June 2024 Hamas has four centers of authority—Gaza, the West Bank, the diaspora, and the prisons—and a ruling politburo that makes policy. — David Remnick, The New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2024 The pandemic saps some of the company’s momentum, and Zoom meetings tend to devolve into power plays among competing politburos, with LaBeouf exercising veto power. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for politburo

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Russian politbjuró, short for politíčeskoe bjuró "political bureau"

First Known Use

1923, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of politburo was in 1923

Rhymes for politburo

See All Rhymes for politburo

Browse Nearby Words

politarch
politburo
polite
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Politburo.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/politburo. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on politburo

Nglish: Translation of politburo for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about politburo

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of gambol

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All