Definition of "refusenik" [refusenik]

• A Soviet citizen, usually Jewish, denied permission to emigrate. (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.

• "It's still too soon to say just what impact this "refusenik" movement will have."
• "Even Peter Black is telling him that he has given up the idea of being a 'refusenik'."
• "Of course, the original term "refusenik" was an unofficial term applied to individuals, typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews, who were denied permission to emigrate abroad by authorities of the former U.S.S.R. and other Eastern bloc countries."