Definition of "Communist"

Communist

noun
plural Communists
1. A member of a formally constituted Communist Party.
  Quotations
  ...all through the between-war years no Socialist programme that was both revolutionary and workable ever appeared; basically, no doubt, because no one genuinely wanted any major change to happen... The Communists wanted to go on and on, suffering a comfortable martyrdom, meeting with endless defeats and afterwards putting the blame on other people.
  1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. III
2. A proponent of the kind of communism formally espoused by such a party, typically either Marxism, or more commonly, Leninism or Maoism.
3. (inexact) Any citizen of a country controlled by such a party, particularly Red Chinese and (historical) Soviets.
  Quotations
  I caught a glimpse of them through the half-opened door, and had a passing impression of prosperous and intelligent men, with astrakhan collars to their coats, glistening top-hats, and every appearance of that bourgeois well-being which the successful Communist so readily assumes.
  1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine‎
4. (inexact, sometimes proscribed) Alternative letter-case form of communist, a proponent of the general philosophy of communism.
adjective
not comparable
1. Of or relating to a formally constituted Communist Party.
2. (inexact, sometimes proscribed) Alternative letter-case form of communist, of or related to the general philosophy of communism.
3. (inexact, sometimes proscribed) Alternative letter-case form of communistic, embodying the ideals of communism.