The Political Dictionary explains the language of American politics — the jargon, slang and procedure of campaigns, Congress, the White House, the courts and the press — in plain English.
Who’s Behind the Political Dictionary?
Taegan Goddard is the creator of the Political Dictionary.
He is also the founder of many popular political websites, including Political Wire, Political Job Hunt and Electoral Vote Map.
Goddard spent more than a decade on Wall Street as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he also served as a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
He is also co-author of You Won – Now What?: How Americans Can Make Democracy Work from City Hall to the White House, a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties.
His essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers and magazines across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University.
He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Additional Contributors
Political journalists Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark contributed additional terms and definitions to the political dictionary.
McCutcheon is an editor at Axios and has covered Washington since 1995. He was co-author of the 2012 and 2014 editions of Almanac of American Politics and co-editor of Politics in America 2010.
Mark is the managing editor of the Washington Examiner Magazine and was previously a senior editor at Politico and editor-in-chief of Campaigns & Elections.
They are both the authors of Dog Whistles, Walk-Backs, and Washington Handshakes: Decoding the Jargon, Slang, and Bluster of American Political Speech as well as Doubletalk: The Language, Code, and Jargon of a Presidential Election.
All material is used with permission.
How Entries Are Written
Every entry opens with a short definition, then explains where the term came from and how it is used, with examples. Terms are defined the way they are actually used — including by partisans — without taking sides; when the parties use a word differently, the entry says so.
Where a term’s first known use can be documented, the entry gives the date and the source, linked where possible. Each one is checked against the source before it appears.
The dictionary grows as new words enter political conversation, and entries are revised as usage changes. It holds 563 entries today.
How We Use AI
Entries are written and edited by people. We use AI tools in two limited ways: to help research when a term was first used and to write the decoy definitions in our Real or Snollygoster? game, which are fake by design.
Nothing drafted by AI appears in a dictionary entry until the editor has checked it.
Citing the Dictionary
Every entry has a Cite this entry box with the citation in MLA, APA and Chicago style, ready to copy.
Corrections and Suggestions
If an entry is wrong, out of date or missing, please tell us. Corrections are made promptly, and every note is read.