stump speech
Americannoun
Usage
What does stump speech come from? A stump speech is a campaign speech—a speech made to encourage people to vote for a politician. The word stump can refer to a platform for making speeches. This use isn’t common, but this sense of the word is commonly used in a figurative way to refer to the place where political campaign speeches are made, especially in the phrase on the stump, as in The senator went out on the stump to try to win re-election. Stump can also be used as a verb meaning to campaign, as in He’s stumping in Iowa today or He has endorsed the senator and will be stumping for her. The term stump speech most often refers to a speech made on a campaign tour. It most commonly refers to a speech made by the politician who’s campaigning, but it can also refer to a speech made in support of that politician. This person can be called a stumper. Example: He uses the same stump speech at every campaign stop—he just changes the name of the city each time.
Etymology
Origin of stump speech
An Americanism dating back to 1810–20
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.
When I asked him about that, he talked about that tension as impossible to resolve, especially not in a minutes-long stump speech.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2026
“When I came back our country was dead. Now it’s the hottest country on the planet,” he said in what has become the standard stump speech pickup line.
From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2026
He’s since tried to walk that back, claiming he was joking, but it was a consistent part of his stump speech.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2025
“He refuses to be the kind of politician that has a polished stump speech everywhere they go,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2024
But then Axe muted the volume as he replayed my stump speech, removing my voice so that we could look more closely at my body language, specifically my facial expressions.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
