When someone hires a friend to do a job, whether or not she's the best candidate, that's cronyism. A governor appointing his inexperienced daughter to an important staff position is one example of cronyism.
- Pronunciation: /'kronɪɪzəm/
- English description: favoritism shown to friends and associates (as by appointing them to positions without regard for their qualifications)
- Synonyms: favoritism
- Chinese Translation: 任人唯亲(ren4 ren2 wei2 qin1)
- Spanish Translation: el amiguismo
- ORIGIN: You're most likely to find the word cronyism in political discussions. It's not necessarily considered cronyism for a public figure to hire, promote, or appoint her friends or colleagues. However, if the person isn't as qualified as other candidates but gets the job anyway, it's a clear case of cronyism. The original meaning ofcronyism was simply "friendship," from crony, Cambridge student slang for "old friend" from the Greek khronios, "long-lasting.".
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
- The culture secretary was called before the education and culture committee to give evidence over the £150,000 grant, which drew accusations of "cronyism".
- In turn, those companies that are embedded get more and more favors, pushing out the smaller companies, and rewarding cronyism instead of innovation.
*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary.com