salesmanship
[seylz-muh n-ship]
- the technique of selling a product: They used a promotional gimmick that was the last word in salesmanship.
- adeptness at creating interest in new ideas, products, methods, etc.: The only ingredient lacking in the system was salesmanship.
Show More
Origin of salesmanship
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for salesmanship
Contemporary Examples
This is salesmanship, and of the most ingeniously manipulative kind.
It is an unconvincing bit of salesmanship that betrays little perspective on himself, let alone the presence of core convictions.
But it was WMD, of course, that was the principal tool in the administration's salesmanship of the war.
Historical Examples
In the field of salesmanship, engineering training is growing in importance.
College TeachingPaul Klapper
The quality of salesmanship really had nothing to do with the subject-matter.
The Wall Street GirlFrederick Orin Bartlett
And every time I try to say anything about Ernest's salesmanship she takes my head off.
The Forbidden TrailHonor Willsie
You have the talent, but you don't have the salesmanship to promote it.
Summer Snow StormAdam Chase
A school of salesmanship for women has met with a like success.
The New EducationScott Nearing
salesmanship
- the technique, skill, or ability of selling
- the work of a salesman
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for salesmanship
n.
The modern system of salesmanship has become so much like persecution reduced to a science, that it is quite a luxury to be allowed the use of your own discretion, without being dragooned, by a shopkeeper's deputy, into looking at what you do not care to see, or buying what you would not have. A man in his sane mind, with the usual organs of speech, has a right to be treated as if he knows what he wants, and is able to ask for it. ["The Literary World," Feb. 26, 1853]
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper