Word.ws English Dictionary

Quaylism

Quaylism noun: a characteristic phrase or statement made by Dan Quayle (born 1947), American retired politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993.

Noun

Quaylism (plural Quaylisms)

  1. A characteristic phrase or statement made by Dan Quayle (born 1947), American retired politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993.
    • For a more comprehensive list of “Quaylisms” see Jeremy Solomon and Ken Brady, The Dan Quayle Quiz Book: For People Who Think They Are Smarter Than the Vice-President (Boston: Little, Brown, 1989).1990, Joseph A. Pika, “Bush, Quayle, and the New Vice Presidency”, in Michael Nelson, editor, The Presidency and the Political System, 3rd edition, Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, →ISBN, page 527
    • During his vice presidency, Quayle became noted for making unfortunate remarks in public, and a large number of stories were circulated about things he had said. Many of these so-called ‘Quaylisms’ are not genuine.1994, “QUAYLE, DAN”, in Bloomsbury Treasury of Quotations, London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, →ISBN, page 590, column 1

Examples of Quaylism in a sentence

  • But this near-encyclopedic recital ended up reminding me of near-forgotten Quaylisms like the speech in American Samoa where he told the crowd that they looked like “happy campers.”1994, Washington Monthly, volumes 26–27, page 56, column 1:
  • I wondered if these “Quaylisms” were made up by those who have nothing better to do than to criticize the former vice president.1997, Ann Liguori, “Dan Quayle”, in A Passion for Golf: Celebrity Musings About the Game, Dallas, Tex.: Taylor Publishing, →ISBN, page 243:
  • Second banana Dan Quayle’s tongue tangles were so numerous that they spawned an actual periodical that anthologized his Quaylisms.2000, Richard Lederer, “[A Pleasury of Bloopers] Politicians Incorrect”, in The Bride of Anguished English: A Bonus of Bloopers, Blunders...
  • Such misinformation then becomes the latest one-liner, just as we used to smirk at the so-called “Quaylisms.” I now wonder how many of THOSE statements were really made by the former Vice President.2000 June, David D. Thornburg, “The Deadliest Virus of All”, in Shift Control: Reflections on Education, Technology, and the Lives of...

Forms of Quaylism

pluralQuaylisms

Origin of Quaylism

From Quayle + -ism.

Questions about Quaylism

What does Quaylism mean?
Quaylism means a characteristic phrase or statement made by Dan Quayle (born 1947), American retired politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993.
How do you use Quaylism in a sentence?
But this near-encyclopedic recital ended up reminding me of near-forgotten Quaylisms like the speech in American Samoa where he told the crowd that they looked like “happy campers.”
What part of speech is Quaylism?
Quaylism is a noun.
What is the plural of Quaylism?
The plural of Quaylism is Quaylisms.

Words near Quaylism in the dictionary

  1. quayful
  2. quayfuls
  3. quaying
  4. Quayle
  5. quaylike
  6. Quaylism
  7. Quaylisms
  8. quayman
  9. quaymaster
  10. quaymasters
  11. quaymen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Quaylism (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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