presidentialness

presidentialness

English

WOTD – 6 November 2012

Etymology

From presidential +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɛzɪˈdɛnʃəlnəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɛzɪˈdɛn(t)ʃəlnɪs/

Noun

presidentialness (uncountable)

1. The quality of being presidential; suitability for the presidency.
   • 1978, Don F. Faules & Dennis C. Alexander, Communication and Social Behavior: A Symbolic Interaction Perspective, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (1978), →ISBN, page 138:

     For Carter, who during the primaries had emerged from the oblivion of "Jimmy who?", the debates offered a challenge as well as an opportunity — to convince voters that his "presidentialness" was better than the incumbent's.

   • 1994, Dan F. Hahn, "The 1992 Clinton-Bush-Perot Presidential Debates", in Rhetorical Studies of National Political Debates, 1960-1992 (ed. Robert V. Friedenberg), Greenwood Publishing Group (1994), →ISBN, page 200:

     Likewise, Perot continued to work on the miscellaneous goal of proving his own presidentialness via use of statistics and common sense.

   • 2007, Andrew Busch, The Constitution on the Campaign Trail: The Surprising Political Career of America's Founding Document, Rowman & Littlefield (2007), →ISBN, page 130:

     Some scholars also suggest that debates activate the electorate, make it easier for candidates to be held accountable on their campaigns, increase the public's acceptance of the candidates, give voters a chance to test the "presidentialness" of the candidates under pressure, […]

Quotations

• For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:presidentialness.