primaries


State elections of delegates to the nominating convention that chooses a major party's presidential candidate. In some states, delegates are elected by popular vote; in other states, party caucuses or miniconventions choose delegates.

Notes for primaries

Primaries occur at different times during the presidential election year, a situation that drags out the process by which parties nominate candidates but allows wide public exposure to candidates and issues.

Words Nearby primaries

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

How to use primaries in a sentence

  • He had personally led the fight in the Fraser County primaries and had vanquished Bassett!

    A Hoosier Chronicle | Meredith Nicholson
  • She did not relish the idea that he had been defeated in the primaries; in her mind defeat was inseparable from dishonor.

    A Hoosier Chronicle | Meredith Nicholson
  • After the primaries you counted noses among the candidates and found it was going to be a tight squeak—a damned tight squeak.

    The Wreckers | Francis Lynde
  • Each of these is composed of, or can be resolved into, two primaries.

    Field's Chromatography | George Field
  • Orange, green and violet, each a combination of two primaries.

    Color Value | C. R. Clifford