crony

noun cro·ny \ ˈkrō-nē \

Definition of crony

plural cronies

:a close friend especially of long standing :pal

played golf with his cronies

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Examples of crony in a Sentence

The mayor rewarded his cronies with high-paying jobs after he was elected.
the criminal's cronies were also closely questioned about the illegal gambling operation

Recent Examples of crony from the Web

All of which brought to mind a lunch in Florida in 2004, where Massimino ate bowls of soup with NBA legends and Philadelphia cronies Chuck Daly and Billy Cunningham.

— tim layden, SI.com, "Villanova's 'Daddy Mass' Engineered the Shiniest of Shiny NCAA Tournament Moments," 30 Aug. 2017
President Clinton put it on sale for the benefit of donors and cronies.

— the editors, National Review, "A Bad Pardon," 28 Aug. 2017
Western and Arab nations put most of the blame on Assad, yet the veto power wielded by Russia, a supporter of the Syrian regime, has prevented the UN Security Council from endorsing tougher action or adding Assad cronies to its blacklist.

— Fortune, "What Sanctions? Assad Allies Got $18 Million in Payouts," 1 Aug. 2017
This is a great example of crony capitalism, in which an industry uses the government to create a new market for itself, regardless of the underlying policy rationale.

— jim martin, National Review, "Elizabeth Warren’s Deceptive Over-the-Counter Hearing-Aid Bill," 17 July 2017
The most influential, Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, gained insight into Mr Putin’s system of crony capitalism during his time as Russia director at ExxonMobil, an energy company.

— The Economist, "Spiritual kinDonald Trump’s G20 speech owed a lot to Putin," 13 July 2017
Don’t give up The Balkan states are tiresome partners, beset by political bickering, crony economies and border quarrels over slivers of water or rocky mountain tops.

— The Economist, "CharlemagneThe EU must show the Balkans they still have a chance of joining," 13 July 2017
But there were both Republicans and Democrats who were opposed to the bills, calling them everything from crony capitalism to corporate welfare.

— kathleen gray, Detroit Free Press, "Michigan House, Senate land 'big fish' business tax incentives," 12 July 2017
Holland is 21, but his high school cronies (Harrier, Jacob Batalon, Zendaya) are believably teen-y.

— gary thompson, Philly.com, "'Spider-Man: Homecoming:' a polished reboot," 5 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'crony.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.