Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A position, especially a public office, from which one may expound one's views to a wide audience.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An exceptionally advantageous position from which to extol one's ideas; -- applied especially to the presidency of the United States, which was described thus by President Theodore Rossevelt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun US an advantageous position from which to express one's views

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a public office of sufficiently high rank that it provides the holder with an opportunity to speak out and be listened to on any matter

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From bully, splendid (probably coined by Theodore Roosevelt, who referred to the presidency as a bully pulpit, (“splendid pulpit”) from which he could expound his views like a preacher).]

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Examples

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  • "A bully pulpit is a public office of sufficiently high rank that provides the holder with an opportunity to speak out and be listened to on any matter. The bully pulpit can bring issues to the forefront that were not initially in debate, due to the office's stature and publicity." --Wikipedia

    March 17, 2009