1 [C,U] an attempt, by a large number of people, to change the government of a country, especially by violent action:
a bourgeois / socialist revolution * the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 * to cause / start a revolution * a country on the brink of revolution
seealsoCOUNTER-REVOLUTION, REVOLT
2 [C] ~ (in sth) a great change in conditions, ways of working, beliefs, etc. that affects large numbers of people:
a cultural / social / scientific revolution * A revolution in information technology is taking place.
seealsoINDUSTRIALREVOLUTION
3 [C,U] ~ (around / on sth) a complete circular movement around a point, especially of one planet around another:
the revolution of the earth around the sun
seealsoREVOLVE
4 (also informal rev) [C] a circular movement made by sth fixed to a central point, for example in a car engine:
rotating at 300 revolutions per minute
