winnability

Noun

winnability (uncountable)

1. The quality of being winnable; the possibility that one can win at all.
   • Commonweal was troubled that Bush and other strategists were "toying" not only with survival after nuclear war but with the "winnability" of such a war.1993, Rodger Van Allen, Being Catholic: Commonweal from the Seventies to the Nineties, page 24
   • The belief in winnability led to a Soviet Union intention to install missiles in Cuba.2012, Allen R. Wells, The Winter Count, page 99
2. The likelihood of winning (something).
   • Alinsky suggested that two closely related criteria, the winnability and the nondiviseness of an issue, should determine the focus of organizers' work.2012, Marie Weil, Michael S. Reisch, Mary L. Ohmer, The Handbook of Community Practice, page 251
   • Seats were becoming vacant, but boundaries had been redrawn, making it hard to assess the winnability of the new constituencies.2014, John Campbell -, Roy Jenkins
3. The chance that (a political candidate) can win; electability.
   • This is despite the fact that women candidates have greater winnability compared to the male candidates, as is evident from Table 3.2000, Swarn Lata Sharma, Gender discrimination and human rights, page 201
   • “Winnability is emphasized,” she said. “There's something to that. At the same time, if someone is completely against what the policies of the party are, in good conscience, you can't support someone like that.”2010, Kate Zernike, Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America