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senate race

senate race

56 3.7
An election where people compete to win a seat among national lawmakers
  • noun
  • /ˈsɛnɪt reɪs/
  • US
translation icon : elección al Senado
  • You can put the Missouri Senate race from "toss up" to "leans Democrat" as of this morning.
  • U.S. Senate race
  • House and Senate races
  • Republican Senate race

Myself, I there had been several polls coming out on the US Senate race, possible contenders who might run.

Examples

  • Tammy vs. Tommy: Costly Senate race comes down to the wire.

    Blog text (2)
  • Todd Akin's deadline to withdraw from Missouri's Senate race is tomorrow.

    Blog text (13)
  • What are we going to do about the Senate race here?

  • Now, if his Senate race goes well, he may well try and make the jump to president.

  • The Senate race is nine months away.

  • For Nevada, the next question becomes who will win the Senate race.

    Blog text (7)
  • Eli, there's gonna be a Senate race in this state very soon.

  • In other news, the Minnesota Senate race is down to razor-thin margins.

    Blog text (13)
  • The Tennessee Senate race is one of the most competitive of the midterm elections.

    Blog text (2)
  • The senate race in our state is heating up as candidates prepare for the debates.

Synonyms

senate campaign
vssenate race
  • US
9 4.4

An organized effort to get someone elected to the senate

is the competitive contest between candidates for the same seat

Surface Forms

senate race singular
senate races plural

Morphology

senate + race

The meaning 'an election contest for a senate seat' is directly and transparently derivable from combining 'senate' (the upper legislative chamber) with 'race' (a contest). The pattern 'X race' meaning 'competition for X' is common in English and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer this meaning.

Etymology

The compound senate race comes from the idea of an election being like a running race. Imagine candidates running to reach a single 'seat' in the senate; that image explains why it means 'an election contest for a senate seat'.