Unelectability

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition in which an individual is seen as incapable of achieving electoral success owing to a lack of appeal or confidence from voters
2. A situation characterized by an individual's appearance as unlikely to gain enough support for election due to various negative factors
3. The quality of being perceived as unable to win an election due to insufficient voter support

Etymology: "Unelectability" is a plain formation built from three English parts: the prefix "un-" meaning "not," the verb "elect" (from Latin "electus," "chosen," via Old French), and the suffix "-ability," which turns a verb into a noun for the quality of being able or unable to do something. Put together, the word names the state of being impossible to choose, which in politics means being unable to win voters over. The suffix does most of the work here. English has long used "-ability" to describe capacity, as in "readability" or "dependability," and attaching it to a negated stem like "unelect-" produces a noun meaning the inverse of "electability." That symmetry explains the word's shape: it exists largely because "electability" was already a familiar term in political talk.