shock-brigade
Definition
Noun: A "shock-brigade" is a specially organized group of workers or volunteers who are assigned to perform urgent, difficult, or high-priority tasks, often in a socialist or communist context, such as during a production drive or in emergency situations. The term emphasizes rapid, intensive, and collective effort.
Usage Examples
- (A group of workers created to handle a critical task quickly.)
- (A team mobilized for an urgent agricultural operation.)
Advanced Usage
- "Shock-brigade" can also be used metaphorically in non-political contexts to describe any team that takes on a challenging or emergency project with great speed and dedication.
- The IT department became a shock-brigade to fix the server crash before the morning rush. (A team working urgently on a critical technical issue.)
Variants and Related Words
- Shock worker (n): an individual member of a shock-brigade.
- She was praised as a shock worker for her exceptional output during the campaign. (A worker recognized for high productivity in a shock-brigade.)
- Brigade (n): a large group of people organized for a specific purpose, often military or labor-related.
- The entire brigade of volunteers cleared the debris within hours. (The whole group working together.)
Synonyms
- Task force: a group assembled for a specific mission.
- Strike team: a specialized unit for urgent action.
- Working party: a group assigned to a particular job.
Related Idioms
Go into overdrive: to work extremely hard, similar to the effort of a shock-brigade.
- The team went into overdrive to finish the project on time. (They worked with great intensity.)
Rise to the occasion: to perform well in a difficult situation, as a shock-brigade does.
- When the crisis hit, the staff rose to the occasion and formed an effective shock-brigade. (They met the challenge successfully.)