presidency
Americannoun
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presidencies
plural
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the office, function, or term of office of a president.
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(often initial capital letter) the office of president of the United States.
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Mormon Church.
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a local governing body consisting of a council of three.
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(often initial capital letter) the highest administrative body, composed of the prophet and his two councilors.
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the former designation of any of the three original provinces of British India: Bengal, Bombay, and Madras.
noun
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the office, dignity, or term of a president
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(often capital) the office of president of a republic, esp the office of the President of the US
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Mormon Church
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a local administrative council consisting of a president and two executive members
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(often capital) the supreme administrative body composed of the Prophet and two councillors
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of presidency
From the Medieval Latin word praesidentia, dating back to 1585–95. See president, -ency
Explanation
A presidency is the executive office of a country, state, company, or other large organization. It's also the way to refer to the whole length of time a president is president: "Washington's presidency ended after two terms." When a candidate is elected to the presidency, that person becomes president, the head of a nation, organization, college, or company. The presidency of the United States has potential to change every four years, when the country holds elections. You can also use presidency to talk about a particular time period, defined by who was president them: "His presidency was a period marked by recession and job loss."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
December's elections will now be an important test of whether the military authorities follow through on their pledge to restore civilian rule and how the expanded powers of the presidency reshape Guinea-Bissau's fragile political system.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
The United States holds the rotating G20 presidency.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
The Seneca Nation also pointed to the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, signed during George Washington’s presidency between the United States and the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
Moreno argued that Correa had signed off on the Coca Codo Sinclair project, and that he had launched an investigation into issues with the construction when he had assumed the presidency.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
It was difficult to think of the ever-combative, highly combustible champion of the American Revolution as extraneous and invisible, but that is what the vice presidency had made him.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
That sets the early portion of his second term apart from most presidencies over the past four decades.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 23, 2026
The investigation that ultimately ensnared Hernández stretched across several U.S. presidencies.
From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2026
It ignored watershed events of the Washington and John Adams presidencies, focusing almost exclusively on slavery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
South Africa will hand the G20 to the United States, marking the end of a cycle of "Global South" presidencies following those of Brazil, India and Indonesia.
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2025
His system was extended to the other presidencies, and at the period of the mutiny, in 1857, the native army in India consisted of some 230,000 regular troops, besides irregulars.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 2 Amiel to Atrauli by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
