Meanings
- UShistoricalgovernmentSynonym of Debategate.
The LaRouchians were anxious to stop the Briefingate probe, and put out a pamphlet calling it a Communist-liberal plot to undermine Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative.
1989, Dennis King, Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism, New York, N.Y. […]: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 1261 more example
As the President now knows, it is not midsummer media madness, or "much ado about nothing." Briefingate - the penetration of the Carter campaign by the Reagan campaign, in order to give the Republican candidate an edge in 1980's televised debate - raises a legitimate issue of right and wrong.
1983 June 30, William Safire, “Briefingate”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 May 2015Synonyms: Debategate
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounSynonym of Debategate.
Origin
From briefing + -gate. Coined by American journalist and presidential speechwriter William Safire in 1983 (see quotation below).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Briefingate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Briefingate
“Briefingate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Briefingate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Briefingate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Briefingate.
Source: Briefingate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.