Thanks to Trump, lots more Americans now know what 'kleptocracy' means


The Trump administration is making American vocabulary great again, apparently. After President Trump's brief hire of Anthony Scaramucci sent Americans to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary last week to learn about an Italian commedia dell'arte character featured in the Queen song "Bohemian Rhapsody," on Monday the top word looked up at the dictionary site was "kleptocracy," thanks, Merriam-Webster says, to an interview in The Guardian in which former U.S. Office of Government Ethics chief Walter Shaub used the word to describe Trump's mixture of government business and his own private businesses.
Shaub, who resigned last month after his warnings to the White House about Trump and his family repeatedly landed on deaf ears, specifically brought up Trump's liberal and conspicuous use of his own Trump properties and his long-term lease of the historic Old Post Office Building. "The fact that we're having to ask questions about whether he's intentionally using the presidency for profit is bad enough because the appearance itself undermines confidence in government," Shaub told The Guardian. "It certainly risks people starting to refer to us as a kleptocracy. That's a term people throw around fairly freely when they're talking about Russia, fairly or unfairly, and we run the risk of getting branded the same way. America really should stand for more than that."
Shaub has already tried to give Trump his own vocabulary lesson, defining the word "swamp" for the president, but we'll let Merriam-Webster take this one:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Kleptocracy is one of a large number of words in English which are formed by adding -cracy, which is a noun combining form that may be traced to the Greek word for "strength," kratos. The initial portion of the word comes from the Greek kleptein ("to steal"), and serves as the basis for a handful of other words in English, most of which have to do with various kinds of theft (such as biblioklept, "one who steals books"). We define kleptocracy as "government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed; also: a particular government of this kind." The word appears to have entered our language in the early 19th century. [Merriam-Webster]
You can go to the dictionary to learn more about other words people are looking up this week in Trump's America, including "implode," "ballistic," "transgender," and "beleaguer." Don't say Trump never did anything for you.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
July 6 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include paying for school lunch by enlisting, and the banality of evil
-
5 biting editorial cartoons about 'Alligator Alcatraz'
Cartoons Artists take on dangerous green things, historical precedent, and more
-
A journey into the deep past on beautiful Arran
The Week Recommends New Unesco Global Geopark played a 'key role' in the birth of modern geological science
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff display
Speed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loom
Speed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panels
Speed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off