cronyism

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

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🗓️ 3 September 2024

⏱️ 2 minutes

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Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 3, 2024 is:

cronyism • \KROH-nee-iz-um\ • noun

Cronyism is the unfair practice by a powerful person (such as a politician) of giving jobs and other favors to friends without regard for their qualifications.

// City residents are pushing back against cronyism and corruption in their local government.

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Examples:

“Expertise, not cronyism, is needed to determine which strategies are most likely to lead to meaningful gains.” — Time, 23 Aug. 2023

Did you know?

The word cronyism evolved in the 19th century as a spin-off of crony, meaning “friend” or “pal.” In its younger days, cronyism simply meant “friendship,” or “the ability to make friends.” The word didn’t turn bad until the next century, when Americans starting using it to refer to the act of playing political favorites. If cronyism is new to your vocabulary, perhaps you’re more familiar with the related term nepotism, meaning “favoritism based on kinship, especially in professional and political contexts.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Merriam-Webster's word of the day for September 3rd.
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0:40.6	Today's word is cronyism spelled CR-O-N-Y-I-S-M.
0:48.0	cronyism is a noun.
0:49.8	It's the unfair practice by a powerful person such as a politician of giving jobs and other favors
0:55.4	to friends without regard for their qualifications.
0:59.4	Here's the word used in a sentence from time. Expertise not cronyism is needed to determine which strategies are most likely to lead to meaningful
1:09.2	gains.
1:11.1	The word cronyism evolved in the 19th century as a spin-off of the word crony, meaning friend or
1:16.8	pal. In its younger days cronyism simply meant friendship or the ability to make friends. The word didn't turn bad until the next century
1:26.6	when Americans started using it to refer to the act of playing political favorites.
1:32.0	If cronyism is new to your vocabulary, perhaps you're more
1:36.1	familiar with the related term nepotism, meaning favoritism based on kinship,
	...

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