Word.ws English Dictionary

coalitionology

coalitionology noun: (excessive) speculation around the time of a general election about possible coalition governments that might ensue.

Noun

coalitionology (uncountable)

  1. (Ireland, UK) (excessive) speculation around the time of a general election about possible coalition governments that might ensue
    • During the working lunch "between Old Danish [well known aquavit] and matured cheese," as Carl Bildt put it, "comparative coalitionology" was discussed.1991 October 25, Daily Report. West Europe (United States. Foreign Broadcast Information Service) FBIS-WEU-91-207 p.17
    • But, surely, we and all other media organisations allowed the poll numbers to infect our thinking: there was too much ‘coalitionology’ as a result. The BBC did better than others on this, but, with the benefit of hindsight, we would all have been better off with less discussion of deals and allowed...2015 June 2, James Harding, Speech at VLV Conference

Examples of coalitionology in a sentence

  • But, surely, we and all other media organisations allowed the poll numbers to infect our thinking: there was too much ‘coalitionology’ as a result.2015 June 2, James Harding, Speech at VLV Conference:
  • It led to an explosion of coalitionology, debating hung parliaments, possible coalitions, constitutional process and the 'legitimacy' of various outcomes, as everyone prepared for post-election deals.2015 December 16, Philip Cowley, Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 2015, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 297:
  • But his advice was for the party to major on policy issues and avoid what he called "coalitionology".2016 January 18, Tim Bale, quoted in "'Grand coalition' option cannot be ruled out" Irish Independent
  • Speaking on the same programme, Harry McGee, Political Correspondent of the Irish Times, said it was all about "coalitionology", with much speculation about combinations.2016 January 18, Latest polls suggest current Coalition will fall short of majority, RTÉ

Origin of coalitionology

From coalition + -ology.

Questions about coalitionology

What does coalitionology mean?
Coalitionology means (excessive) speculation around the time of a general election about possible coalition governments that might ensue.
How do you use coalitionology in a sentence?
But, surely, we and all other media organisations allowed the poll numbers to infect our thinking: there was too much ‘coalitionology’ as a result.
What part of speech is coalitionology?
Coalitionology is a noun.

Words near coalitionology in the dictionary

  1. coalitioners
  2. coalitionism
  3. coalitionisms
  4. coalitionist
  5. coalitionists
  6. coalitionology
  7. coalitions
  8. coalitions of the willing
  9. coalize
  10. coalized
  11. coalizes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: coalitionology (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “coalitionology.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coalitionology. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.