cronyism

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English

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WOTD – 6 November 2023

Etymology

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Charles Jameson Grant, The Ministers and Their Cronies off to Botany Bay, and the Dorchester Men Returning (1834–1835), a political cartoon depicting the Tolpuddle Martyrs—who had been sentenced to penal transportation to Australia after a labour dispute—returning to England following their pardon (background), and suggesting that government “ministers and their cronies” (foreground) should be sent there instead.

From crony (“close friend”) +‎ -ism (suffix forming names of a tendency of action, behaviour, condition, opinion, or state belonging to a class or group of persons).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cronyism (countable and uncountable, plural cronyisms)

  1. (originally US, derogatory) Favouritism to friends without regard for their qualifications; especially (politics), in their appointment to political positions.
    Synonyms: cronydom, (Arab society) wasta
    Coordinate terms: nepotism, patronage
    • 1974 September 19, Lawrence W[arren] Pierce, United States District Judge, “Memorandum Opinion and Order”, in John R. Patterson, et al., Plaintiffs, v Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union of New York and Vicinity, et al., Defendants. […], page 23a:
      [T]he present structure of the collective bargaining agreement, combined with nepotism and cronyism and other abuses in employment and referral practices, have perpetuated the effects of the past discrimination, […]
    • 1988, Norman H. Clark, “Booze and Politics, 1933–83”, in The Dry Years: Prohibition and Social Change in Washington, revised edition, Seattle, Wash., London: University of Washington Press, →ISBN, page 258:
      [Robert L.] Hagist began what he called an "18 month reform program" that included revised warehouse procedures and measures to prevent the leakages, shortages, cronyisms, and politicking attributed to the managers and clerks of the various stores.
    • 1990 April 4, Dick Armey, Hearing on the Reauthorization of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session […] (Serial No. 101-78), volume 3, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 35:
      If we are going to reauthorize the National Endowment, we need to see to it that the Endowment, in its procedures, are open, one. […] That there is a cessation of a long-term practice of cronyisms on the panels so that artists across the Nation have equal access to this.
    • 2013 April, Randall G[regory] Holcombe, Andrea M. Castillo, “Communism”, in Liberalism and Cronyism: Two Rival Political and Economic Systems, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, →ISBN, page 31:
      [C]ommunism is predicated upon a central structure of economic command that is singularly entrusted with allocating resources and making economic decisions. Because of this centralized command structure, communist societies fall prey to the forces of cronyism and influence-peddling as commune members without economic power curry favor with commune leaders that control access to resources.
    • 2015, Thomas J. Gradel, Dick Simpson, “Suburban Scandals”, in Corrupt Illinois: Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality, Urbana; Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 117:
      Patronage, nepotism, cronyism, abuse of power, and criminal activity flourish, sometimes for decades, in numerous town halls, police stations, and special-purpose government agencies in the suburbs.
    • 2024 May 4, Simon Tisdall, “Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen, the double act that is steering the EU ever rightwards”, in The Observer‎[1], →ISSN:
      Critics accuse her [von der Leyen] of serious missteps over the pandemic, the Gaza war, alleged cronyism, – and of having a high-handed manner.
  2. (obsolete) The condition of being friends; friendship; also, the ability or inclination to make friends.
    • 1829 June 26, Robert Taylor, “Characterism of Leeds”, in The Lion, volume III, number 26, London: Richard Carlile, […], →OCLC, page 813:
      [T]he preacher […] was reading to them the duty of loving one another as Christians, But only particularly and exclusively were they to love one another "as Christians," that is as confederates and caballers together in a particular interest, distinct from that of the great family of mankind; […] The benefit to themselves from this Free-masonry sectarian cronyism, (for which the uninitiated world is so much obliged to them) was, to be, that […] [t]he spirit of God was to bear witness with their spirits, and to settle the matter of faith with a degree of conviction, that should render reason superfluous and inquiry unnecessary.
    • 1840, Leigh Hunt, “English and French Females. Their Costumes and Bearing.”, in The Seer; or, Common-places Refreshed. […], part I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 73, column 1:
      Our friend the Old Crony, we see, for all his connoisseurship and crony-ism, his regard for a certain piquancy of perfection in the French dress and walk, and his wish that his fair countrywomen would "take steps" after their fashion, cannot get rid of the preference in which he was brought up for the beauty of the English countenance.
    • [1841], “a mother” [pseudonym], “Peculiar Duties of Wives in Various Stations of Life”, in The Young Wife; or, Hints to Married Daughters. […], London: The Religious Tract Society, →OCLC, page 123:
      She [the minister's wife] is warned against being drawn into excessive attachments, engrossing intimacies, low and gossiping cronyism, all intermeddling with tales and talebearers, with family breaches, with partisanship, and with ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
    • 1854, George Redford, John Angell James, “Part II. Supplement to the Autobiography of the Rev. William Jay.”, in George Redford, John Angell James, editors, The Autobiography of the Rev. William Jay; […], London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 223:
      [H]e [William Jay] observed, that there were two things which caused religious servants to be too generally disliked. The first was their fondness for religious gossiping, or cronyism, which made them regardless of their time, &c.
    • [1860], [Renton Nicholson], chapter XVIII, in The Lord Chief Baron Nicholson. An Autobiography, London: George Vickers, […], →OCLC, page 183:
      Pea-green Hayne was one of my most intimate friends; we occupied rooms vis à vis, and made prison life more than endurable by affectionate cronyism.
    • 1869, Mortimer Collins, “Double Entanglement”, in The Ivory Gate. […], volume I, London: Hurst and Blackett, […], →OCLC, page 222:
      And the Englishman and Irishman went off together in a state of thorough cronyism, the former imagining that he had quite taken in his companion, and entertaining no suspicion that it was rather the other way.

Alternative forms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ “cronyism, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “cronyism, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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