"clown-car primary" meaning in All languages combined

See clown-car primary on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈklaʊn kɑɹ ˌpɹaɪməɹi/ [US] Forms: clown-car primaries [plural]
Etymology: From clown car + primary. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|clown car|primary}} clown car + primary Head templates: {{en-noun}} clown-car primary (plural clown-car primaries)
  1. (US politics, chiefly derogatory) A primary election with a large number of serious candidates, usually more than four, making it possible that the winner will have been chosen by only a small portion of the electorate. Tags: US, derogatory
    Sense id: en-clown-car_primary-en-noun-5wf9f106 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, US politics Topics: government, politics

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "clown car",
        "3": "primary"
      },
      "expansion": "clown car + primary",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From clown car + primary.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "clown-car primaries",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "clown-car primary (plural clown-car primaries)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "US politics",
          "orig": "en:US politics",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              29,
              46
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012 March 5, Jon Ponder, “Two Months into Republicans' Clown Car Primary, WSJ/NBC Poll Finds Voters Turning against the GOP - Again”, in Pensito Review, archived from the original on 2012-06-11:",
          "text": "Two Months into Republicans' Clown Car Primary, WSJ/NBC Poll Finds Voters Turning against the GOP - Again [title]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              40
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2015, Michael Page, This Is Your Government On Drugs, Xlibris Corporation, page 282:",
          "text": "The Republicans held a clown-car primary in 2012 with a dozen debates where their credo of hewing to the party line (more conservative than thou) prevented any candidate from emerging looking presidential.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              114,
              131
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2016, Joshua Holland, “Big GOP Donors Are to Blame for Their Party's Clown-Car Primary”, in The Nation, archived from the original on 2016-10-19:",
          "text": "They can shake their heads over the seething anger in the Republican electorate, but this nasty and never-ending \"clown car primary\" is a problem of their own creation.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A primary election with a large number of serious candidates, usually more than four, making it possible that the winner will have been chosen by only a small portion of the electorate."
      ],
      "id": "en-clown-car_primary-en-noun-5wf9f106",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "primary election",
          "primary election"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US politics, chiefly derogatory) A primary election with a large number of serious candidates, usually more than four, making it possible that the winner will have been chosen by only a small portion of the electorate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "derogatory"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈklaʊn kɑɹ ˌpɹaɪməɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "clown-car primary"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "clown car",
        "3": "primary"
      },
      "expansion": "clown car + primary",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From clown car + primary.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "clown-car primaries",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "clown-car primary (plural clown-car primaries)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English compound terms",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:US politics"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              29,
              46
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012 March 5, Jon Ponder, “Two Months into Republicans' Clown Car Primary, WSJ/NBC Poll Finds Voters Turning against the GOP - Again”, in Pensito Review, archived from the original on 2012-06-11:",
          "text": "Two Months into Republicans' Clown Car Primary, WSJ/NBC Poll Finds Voters Turning against the GOP - Again [title]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              40
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2015, Michael Page, This Is Your Government On Drugs, Xlibris Corporation, page 282:",
          "text": "The Republicans held a clown-car primary in 2012 with a dozen debates where their credo of hewing to the party line (more conservative than thou) prevented any candidate from emerging looking presidential.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              114,
              131
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2016, Joshua Holland, “Big GOP Donors Are to Blame for Their Party's Clown-Car Primary”, in The Nation, archived from the original on 2016-10-19:",
          "text": "They can shake their heads over the seething anger in the Republican electorate, but this nasty and never-ending \"clown car primary\" is a problem of their own creation.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A primary election with a large number of serious candidates, usually more than four, making it possible that the winner will have been chosen by only a small portion of the electorate."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "primary election",
          "primary election"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US politics, chiefly derogatory) A primary election with a large number of serious candidates, usually more than four, making it possible that the winner will have been chosen by only a small portion of the electorate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "derogatory"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈklaʊn kɑɹ ˌpɹaɪməɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "clown-car primary"
}

Download raw JSONL data for clown-car primary meaning in All languages combined (2.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-05-27 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-20 using wiktextract (a4e883e and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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