Definition of "nomenklatura" []

• The system of patronage to senior positions in the bureaucracy of the Soviet Union and some other Communist states, controlled by committees at various levels of the Communist Party. (noun)
• The lists of appointees matching the lists of patronage positions in such a system. (noun)
• The appointees to these positions: "The . . . nomenklatura are perceived as draft-immune” ( Anthony Arnold). (noun)
• The stratified, privileged class composed of these appointees. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "So I wrote Erin to get some clarification, and she explained that she had been talking about a nonliteral use of the word nomenklatura itself, "that is, one that referred to people that weren't Russians, but were metaphorically similar to the Russian nomenklatura.""
• "When Russia, China and Vietnam liberalized, the nomenklatura were the first to move into “private” business and did very well enriching themselves and their families."
• "They represent the idea of nomenklatura, or bureaucratic capitalism."