primarying

1. 1
   nounUSuncountable

   The act of challenging a sitting office-holder by running against them in their own party's primary election.

   The veteran congressman dismissed talk of primarying as little more than noise from activists.

   Party leaders warned that primarying a sitting senator could fracture the coalition before the general election.

   Note

   A word from American party politics, where the threat to an incumbent comes from inside the party rather than from the other side. As a mass noun it names the practice in general, as in talk of primarying or the risk of primarying, and it takes no plural. It is the noun side of the verb form, so the same spelling can also take an object: primarying a sitting senator.

2. 2
   verbUS

   Present participle of primary.

   The grassroots organization is primarying three incumbents it considers too centrist.

   Donors are primarying the governor over her stance on the new law.

   Note

   Behind the participle stands an American verb with two uses. With an object, someone primaries an incumbent, often from a more ideologically extreme flank: activists are primarying three centrists. Without one, it can mean simply taking part in a primary election. The final y stays before -ing, as in carrying. Unlike the practice as a noun, this form names who is doing the challenging.

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