communism 的音标为英式 /ˈkɒmjunɪzəm/、美式 /ˈkɑːmjunɪzəm/，是不可数名词，核心含义为“共产主义”，指以生产资料公有制为基础、主张消除阶级划分和实现按需分配的社会意识形态及制度[7][10]。其词源可追溯至拉丁语“communis”（意为“共同”），19世纪经法语“communisme”演变，最终由马克思在《共产党宣言》中确立为系统性政治理论[7]。
该词多用于描述社会制度、意识形态或政治运动，常与马克思主义理论关联，与资本主义、社会主义等概念对比。常见搭配包括：
动词搭配：fight communism（反对共产主义）、realize communism（实现共产主义）[10]
形容词搭配：orthodox communism（正统共产主义）、Soviet communism（苏联共产主义）
介词搭配：the theory of communism（共产主义理论）、the cause of communism（共产主义事业）[10]
我们的最终目的是实现共产主义。（Our ultimate aim is to realize communism.）[10]
1948年铁托与斯大林决裂后，创建了独特的共产主义模式。（Tito forged a unique model of communism after breaking with Stalin in 1948.）[5]
共产主义曾是全球流行的意识形态，与西方体系形成竞争。（Once upon a time Communism was an ideology that was popular throughout much of the world and seriously rivalled Western alternatives.）
卡尔·马克思认为，共产主义实现后税收将不再必要，并期待“国家消亡”。（Karl Marx assumed that taxation would be unnecessary after the advent of communism and looked forward to the "withering away of the state".）
他是政治上自觉的共产主义战士。（He was a politically conscious fighter for communism.）[4]
德国统一象征着东德共产主义的崩溃。（The reunification of Germany symbolized the collapse of communism in East Germany.）
尽管军队规模不及苏联，撤退仍会让共产主义席卷欧洲。（And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe.）
毛准备跨越资本主义阶段，直接将中国从封建主义引向共产主义。（Mao was ready to lead China from feudalism to Communism without ever going through the intermediate stage of capitalism.）
共产主义主张生产资料公有，消除社会阶级分化。（Communism is a political and economic system in which individual people cannot own property or industries and in which there are no important social class divisions.）[10]
苏联解体后，波兰经济在莱谢克·巴尔采罗维奇的带领下逐步复苏。（Leszek Balcerowicz, the man who saved Poland's economy after the collapse of communism, is trying to change that.）
共产主义作为一种思潮，其核心追求与实践形态在不同历史阶段存在差异，但始终围绕“共同所有”与“社会平等”的基本理念展开。如何在当代语境下理解其理论价值与现实意义，仍是值得探讨的议题。