"bully pulpit" meaning in English

See bully pulpit in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˌbʊli ˈpʊlpɪt/ [Received-Pronunciation], /-ˈpʌl-/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌbʊli ˈpʊlpɪt/ [General-American], /-ˈpʌl-/ [General-American], /-ˈpəlpət/ [General-American] Audio: En-us-bully-pulpit.ogg [General-American] Forms: bully pulpits [plural]
Etymology: From bully (“(US, slang) very good”) + pulpit (“raised desk, lectern, or platform for an orator or public speaker”), said to have been coined by the United States President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) who used the term to refer to his office, by which he meant a terrific platform from which one can advocate an agenda: see the 1909 quotation. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|bully|pulpit|t1=(US, slang) very good|t2=raised desk, lectern, or platform for an orator or public speaker}} bully (“(US, slang) very good”) + pulpit (“raised desk, lectern, or platform for an orator or public speaker”), {{sup|1}} ¹ Head templates: {{en-noun}} bully pulpit (plural bully pulpits)
  1. (US, chiefly politics) An advantageous position from which to express one's views. Wikipedia link: Theodore Roosevelt Tags: US Categories (topical): Politics
    Sense id: en-bully_pulpit-en-noun-aKOo9WPE Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header Topics: government, politics

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for bully pulpit meaning in English (3.5kB)

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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "bully",
        "3": "pulpit",
        "t1": "(US, slang) very good",
        "t2": "raised desk, lectern, or platform for an orator or public speaker"
      },
      "expansion": "bully (“(US, slang) very good”) + pulpit (“raised desk, lectern, or platform for an orator or public speaker”)",
      "name": "compound"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "From bully (“(US, slang) very good”) + pulpit (“raised desk, lectern, or platform for an orator or public speaker”), said to have been coined by the United States President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) who used the term to refer to his office, by which he meant a terrific platform from which one can advocate an agenda: see the 1909 quotation.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bully pulpits",
      "tags": [
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    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "bully pulpit (plural bully pulpits)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "bul‧ly"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
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          "parents": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1909 February 27, Lyman Abbott, “A Review of President Roosevelt’s Administration: Its Influence on Patriotism and Public Service”, in Lyman Abbott, editor, The Outlook, volume XCI, New York, N.Y.: The Outlook Company, →OCLC, page 430, column 1",
          "text": "He [Theodore Roosevelt] was sitting at his desk reading to us his forthcoming Message. He had just finished a paragraph of a distinctly ethical character, when he suddenly stopped, swung round in his swivel chair, and said: \"I suppose my critics will call that preaching, but I have got such a bully pulpit!\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024, unnamed source, quoted in: James Oliphant, Joseph Ax, and Bad Brooks, Republicans scramble to contain backlash from IVF court ruling, Reuters, published in: The Christian Science Monitor, February 26 2024",
          "text": "“The only option is to continue raising the issue, making it a political fight and using the bully pulpit to get more attention,” the [White House] source said."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An advantageous position from which to express one's views."
      ],
      "id": "en-bully_pulpit-en-noun-aKOo9WPE",
      "links": [
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
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        [
          "advantageous",
          "advantageous"
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          "position",
          "position#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "express",
          "express#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "views",
          "view#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, chiefly politics) An advantageous position from which to express one's views."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
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      "wikipedia": [
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    {
      "ipa": "/ˌbʊli ˈpʊlpɪt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
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    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈpʌl-/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌbʊli ˈpʊlpɪt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈpʌl-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈpəlpət/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-bully-pulpit.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4a/En-us-bully-pulpit.ogg/En-us-bully-pulpit.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/En-us-bully-pulpit.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (GA)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bully pulpit"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
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        "t1": "(US, slang) very good",
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      },
      "expansion": "bully (“(US, slang) very good”) + pulpit (“raised desk, lectern, or platform for an orator or public speaker”)",
      "name": "compound"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "From bully (“(US, slang) very good”) + pulpit (“raised desk, lectern, or platform for an orator or public speaker”), said to have been coined by the United States President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) who used the term to refer to his office, by which he meant a terrific platform from which one can advocate an agenda: see the 1909 quotation.",
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      "args": {},
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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        "English lemmas",
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        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
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          "ref": "1909 February 27, Lyman Abbott, “A Review of President Roosevelt’s Administration: Its Influence on Patriotism and Public Service”, in Lyman Abbott, editor, The Outlook, volume XCI, New York, N.Y.: The Outlook Company, →OCLC, page 430, column 1",
          "text": "He [Theodore Roosevelt] was sitting at his desk reading to us his forthcoming Message. He had just finished a paragraph of a distinctly ethical character, when he suddenly stopped, swung round in his swivel chair, and said: \"I suppose my critics will call that preaching, but I have got such a bully pulpit!\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024, unnamed source, quoted in: James Oliphant, Joseph Ax, and Bad Brooks, Republicans scramble to contain backlash from IVF court ruling, Reuters, published in: The Christian Science Monitor, February 26 2024",
          "text": "“The only option is to continue raising the issue, making it a political fight and using the bully pulpit to get more attention,” the [White House] source said."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An advantageous position from which to express one's views."
      ],
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          "politics"
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          "advantageous",
          "advantageous"
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        ],
        [
          "express",
          "express#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "views",
          "view#Noun"
        ]
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, chiefly politics) An advantageous position from which to express one's views."
      ],
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        "US"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Theodore Roosevelt"
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  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌbʊli ˈpʊlpɪt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
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    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈpʌl-/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌbʊli ˈpʊlpɪt/",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈpʌl-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
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    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈpəlpət/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/En-us-bully-pulpit.ogg",
      "tags": [
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      "text": "Audio (GA)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bully pulpit"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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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