Meaning

(intransitive) To cry, as a calf, sheep, or goat..

Definitions by Sense

1. (intransitive) To cry, as a calf, sheep, or goat.
2. (intransitive) To make a senseless noise.
3. To talk inconsiderately; blab.
4. To produce an overrich or overblown sound on a brass instrument such as a trumpet, trombone, or tuba.
5. (transitive) To utter loudly or foolishly; blurt.
6. The Soviet system of connections and social relationships; one's social or business network (in Russian or Soviet society).

Example Sentences

Near-synonym: baa (sheep or goat)

A moment later the engine roared into life. Exhaust blatted through the straight-pipes; people stopped on the street to look.

To open a new business in Russia you need blat.

The distinction between the use of blat for personal enrichment and for smoothing the work of the enterprise was emphasized in the interview testimony. […] The supply agent, for example, often has large quantities of money at his disposal for arranging his blat, much of which he might use for himself but which he devotes instead to making deals of advantage to the enterprise.

Alena Ledeneva's book is the first to analyse blat in all its historical, socio-economic and cultural aspects, and to explore its implications for post-Soviet society. In a socialist distribution system which resulted in constant shortages, blat developed into an 'economy of favours' which shadowed an overcontrolling centre and represented the reaction of ordinary people to the social constraints they faced.

“We call her that but really it’s more post-Soviet. She's the blat girl.” “The what?” “Blat. What the old boys in your country called juice, I think. She's connected, Marina is.

The bribe caused the inflation of the social capital defined as blat. Monetarization of social relations led to the inflation of the social investments that the ordinary citizen has put in their blat networks. Only blat networks of the powerful survived […]

I argue that just as blat was an essential type of know-how of Soviet socialism, these postsocialist informal practices represent the “know-how” of post-Soviet Russia.

Word Forms

• blats
• blatting
• blatted

Synonyms for blat

Related Words

When Should You Use Blat?

Use blat when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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