nepotism
/ˈnɛp.ə.tɪ.zəm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.93 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The favoring of relatives (most strictly) or also personal friends (more broadly) because of their relationship rather than because of their abilities.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Nepotism can get you very far in the world if you've got the right connections."
- "Now retailers even demand deslotting or failure fees, a penalty for trial products that fail to meet their sales objectives. The struggle over display space heavily favors the incumbents and encourages what might be called brand nepotism."
- "Mr Chen - a member of the national politburo as well as the Shanghai boss - is accused of nepotism and corruption on a grand scale: protecting political allies, granting preferment to his family and looting Shanghai's pension fund."
Etymology
Borrowed from French népotisme, from Italian nepotismo, from Latin nepōs (“nephew”), a reference to the practice of popes appointing relatives (most often nephews) as cardinals (cardinal-nephew) during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: nepotismo, nepōs
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈnɛp.ə.tɪ.zəm/
- British English: /ˈnɛp.ə.tɪ.zəm/