Meanings
- uncountableThe act or state of becoming like the presidency of Jimmy Carter, especially in relation to perceived ineffectiveness or unreliability.
His Carterization began when he let Newt Gingrich, the second-ranking House Republican, roll him on the budget.
1990, Newsweek, volume 116, page 1305 more examples
They set a prolongation of what is happening on the economic scene as the key to restoration from their fall from political grace that resulted during the four-year Carterization of American economic stability.
1982, Paper Trade Journal, volume 166, numbers 13-24, page 11This, however, could lead to an even greater loss of prestige——to "Carterization," to use the now fashionable definition of an indecisive president with an unreliable policy.
1982, USSR Report: USA, economics, politics, ideology, numbers 4-6, page 48In late December 1976 Reston observed that while all new administrations proclaim great changes and then disappoint, "as the Carterization of Washington proceeds, the idea is getting around that it may really be a New Year after all."
1989, Mark J. Rozell, The Press and the Carter Presidency, page 20From the viewpoint of the free world the development in international relations has not been favorable; it reached its nadir at the time of the Carterization of American politics , and only recently has the tide begun to turn.
1990, Marcelo Alonso, Organization and Change in Complex Systems, page 182George Bush's unexpected troubles represented what some began to see as a "Jimmy Carterization" of the Bush presidency, taking place in a period that eerily recalled Carter's own travail during a time of "national malaise."
1993, James W. Ceaser, Upside Down and Inside Out: The 1992 Elections and American Politics
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Cite this entry
Carterization. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Carterization
“Carterization.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Carterization. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Carterization,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Carterization.
Source: Carterization on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.