"better dead than red" meaning in English

See better dead than red in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Head templates: {{head|en|proverb}} better dead than red
  1. (example, politics) It is preferable to be deceased than to be a Communist or ruled by Communists. Categories (topical): Communism, Politics Synonyms: better dead than Red, better Dead than Red Related terms: give me liberty, give me death, liberty, death Translations (anti-Communist slogan): liever dood dan rood (Dutch), beter dood dan rood (Dutch), lieber tot als rot (German), besser tot als rot (German), heller død enn rød (Norwegian), bedre død enn rød (Norwegian), hellre död än röd (Swedish), bättre död än röd (Swedish)

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for better dead than red meaning in English (4.0kB)

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "better dead than red",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Communism",
          "orig": "en:Communism",
          "parents": [
            "Ideologies",
            "Leftism",
            "Socialism",
            "Politics",
            "Society",
            "Economics",
            "All topics",
            "Social sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Sciences"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Politics",
          "orig": "en:Politics",
          "parents": [
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "Aug 14 1961, “Canon Causes Stir At Church Election”, in The Age, Australia, retrieved 2013-10-30, page 11",
          "text": "Canon Collins urged the electors to reject the candidate nominated by the Crown, Dr. R. W. Stopford, Bishop of Peterborough, who, he claimed, had said \"it would be better to have nuclear war than to permit Communist domination over Britain.\" Canon Collins said: \"I cannot believe it is proper for a bishop of the church to encourage the idea which is popularly expressed In the formula ‘better dead than red.’\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "July 30 1982, Mary McGrory, “Reagan View: El Salvador's slaughter better than communism”, in Spokane Chronicle, retrieved 2013-10-30, page 6",
          "text": "The recertification of El Salvador's progress on human rights is nothing but a basic restatement of the Reagan foreign policy, which is \"better dead than Red.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "Dec 20 2007, Karen Fish, “Watch Hillary Clinton Vehemently Vow to Raise Taxes and Vote for War”, in San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center, retrieved 2013-10-30",
          "text": "In a country whose motto not long ago was “Better dead than Red”, it is ironic that today Time Magazine awarded Vladimir Putin the “Man of the Year Award”.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "It is preferable to be deceased than to be a Communist or ruled by Communists."
      ],
      "id": "en-better_dead_than_red-en-proverb-oet6EbKc",
      "links": [
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ],
        [
          "preferable",
          "preferable"
        ],
        [
          "deceased",
          "deceased"
        ],
        [
          "Communist",
          "Communist"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "example",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(example, politics) It is preferable to be deceased than to be a Communist or ruled by Communists."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "give me liberty"
        },
        {
          "word": "give me death"
        },
        {
          "word": "liberty"
        },
        {
          "word": "death"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "better dead than Red"
        },
        {
          "word": "better Dead than Red"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
          "word": "liever dood dan rood"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
          "word": "beter dood dan rood"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
          "word": "lieber tot als rot"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
          "word": "besser tot als rot"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
          "word": "heller død enn rød"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
          "word": "bedre død enn rød"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
          "word": "hellre död än röd"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
          "word": "bättre död än röd"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "better dead than red"
}
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "better dead than red",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "give me liberty"
    },
    {
      "word": "give me death"
    },
    {
      "word": "liberty"
    },
    {
      "word": "death"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proverbs",
        "English rhyming phrases",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Communism",
        "en:Politics"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "Aug 14 1961, “Canon Causes Stir At Church Election”, in The Age, Australia, retrieved 2013-10-30, page 11",
          "text": "Canon Collins urged the electors to reject the candidate nominated by the Crown, Dr. R. W. Stopford, Bishop of Peterborough, who, he claimed, had said \"it would be better to have nuclear war than to permit Communist domination over Britain.\" Canon Collins said: \"I cannot believe it is proper for a bishop of the church to encourage the idea which is popularly expressed In the formula ‘better dead than red.’\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "July 30 1982, Mary McGrory, “Reagan View: El Salvador's slaughter better than communism”, in Spokane Chronicle, retrieved 2013-10-30, page 6",
          "text": "The recertification of El Salvador's progress on human rights is nothing but a basic restatement of the Reagan foreign policy, which is \"better dead than Red.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "Dec 20 2007, Karen Fish, “Watch Hillary Clinton Vehemently Vow to Raise Taxes and Vote for War”, in San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center, retrieved 2013-10-30",
          "text": "In a country whose motto not long ago was “Better dead than Red”, it is ironic that today Time Magazine awarded Vladimir Putin the “Man of the Year Award”.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "It is preferable to be deceased than to be a Communist or ruled by Communists."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ],
        [
          "preferable",
          "preferable"
        ],
        [
          "deceased",
          "deceased"
        ],
        [
          "Communist",
          "Communist"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "example",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(example, politics) It is preferable to be deceased than to be a Communist or ruled by Communists."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "better dead than Red"
    },
    {
      "word": "better Dead than Red"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
      "word": "liever dood dan rood"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
      "word": "beter dood dan rood"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
      "word": "lieber tot als rot"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
      "word": "besser tot als rot"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
      "word": "heller død enn rød"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
      "word": "bedre død enn rød"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
      "word": "hellre död än röd"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "anti-Communist slogan",
      "word": "bättre död än röd"
    }
  ],
  "word": "better dead than red"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.