veepstakes
/ˈvipˌsteɪks/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Alternative letter-case form of veepstakes.
noun
The process by which candidates for the Presidency of the United States choose a running mate to become the Vice President if elected.
American usage; Humorous; Slang
Example Sentences
- "What America needs now is comedy—so hurray, we're getting ready to elect a Vice-President! Sure, we elect a Boss Man too, but it'll be the Veepstakes that'll provide the laughs."
- "If [Spiro] Agnew abandoned his inflammatory rhetoric during the 1972 campaign, he did not abandon his corrosive wit altogether. The more restrained Agnew twitted Sargent Shriver, the Democratic candidate in the Veepstakes, on his personal wealth."
- "The candidate for the challenging party was undergoing a veepstakes."
- "[Barbara] Mikulski, who is 47, is the least chic of the women mentioned in the veepstakes. Barely 4 feet 11 inches tall, she barrels through the halls of Congress like a small tank. Her facial expressions swing from a pugnacious frown to an impish grin."
- "He laughed again and we talked vividly, I recall, on the topic of how many people in Washington are obsessed with where they rank, how they’re perceived. It’s a particularly acute concern in television and politics—ratings, veepstakes, poll numbers, the kind of things that mean everything and nothing in Washington."
- "Mr. [Chuck] Todd, whose ubiquity as a running-mate handicapper at his network is akin to Mel Kiper Jr.’s as an N.F.L. draft expert on ESPN, said that all the time and energy devoted to the veepstakes these days is well spent."
Etymology
Blend of veep (“(informal) Vice President of the United States”) + sweepstakes (plural of sweepstake (“lottery in which the prize or prizes constitute all the money paid by the participants”)).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈvipˌsteɪks/
- British English: /ˈviːpsteɪks/