cronyism
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkɹəʊnɪɪz(ə)m/
ipa: /ˈkɹoʊniˌɪzəm/
Forms: form: cronyisms
form: croneyism
Etymology: 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).
Senses: examples: text: [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, […]
ref: 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:
text: [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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: [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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: Critics accuse her [von der Leyen] of serious missteps over the pandemic, the Gaza war, alleged cronyism, – and of having a high-handed manner.
ref: 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, →ISSN:
synonyms: cronydom
wasta
coordinate_terms: nepotism
patronage
glosses: Favouritism to friends without regard for their qualifications; especially (politics), in their appointment to political positions.
examples: text: [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.
ref: 1829 June 26, Robert Taylor, “Characterism of Leeds”, in The Lion, volume III, number 26, London: Richard Carlile, […], →OCLC, page 813:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: [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:
text: [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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: [1860], [Renton Nicholson], chapter XVIII, in The Lord Chief Baron Nicholson. An Autobiography, London: George Vickers, […], →OCLC, page 183:
text: 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.
ref: 1869, Mortimer Collins, “Double Entanglement”, in The Ivory Gate. […], volume I, London: Hurst and Blackett, […], →OCLC, page 222:
glosses: The condition of being friends; friendship; also, the ability or inclination to make friends.
Related terms: crony
crony capitalism
cronydom
cronyish
cronyist
cronyistic
cronynomics
corruption
corruptocracy
kakistocracy
kleptocracy
old boy network