quango
pronunciation
How to pronounce quango in British English:
UK [ˈkwæŋgəʊ]
How to pronounce quango in American English:
US [ˈkwæŋgoʊ]
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- Noun:
- QUAsi Non-Governmental Organization; an organization that is financed by the government yet acts independently of the government
Word Origin
- quango
- quango: [20] Quango is an acronym created probably in the late 1960s to refer, in a none too complimentary way, to an administrative body hovering in the grey area between public accountability and private control. It is commonly explained as being based on the initial letters of quasi-autonomous national government organization, but there is no actual evidence for that unwieldy phrase before the mid-1970s, by which time the acronym was already going strong. A more plausible source is the simpler quasi-nongovernmental organization, which was around in the late 1960s.
- quango (n.)
- 1973, acronym for quasi-non-governmental organization (a descriptive phrase itself attested from 1967). Related: Quangocracy; quangocrat.
Example
- 1. To meet soaring demand for knowledge about south korea , a new department of public diplomacy was set up two years ago by the korea foundation , a government quango .
- 2. A government " quango " has urged football fans to choose sparkling water and grapes rather than beer and crisps while watching the world cup . Daily telegraph , uk .
- 3. Lacking a single body with the authority and resources of the fed , the tests are being run by a tangle of national regulators , the european commission , the european central bank and a quango called the committee of european banking supervisors .