Kamalamentum en · NOUN
Etymology
Etymology tree Sanskrit कमला (kamalā)translit. English Kamala Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *m(y)owh₁éyeti Proto-Italic *moweō Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-məntom Proto-Italic *mowementom Latin *movimentum Latin mōmentumbor. English momentum blend English Kamalamentum Blend of Kamala + momentum, after Q10853588 (Vice President of the United States from 2021 to 2025).
Meanings
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(US, neologism, rare, uncountable) A wave of enthusiasm for the 2024 presidential campaign of Kamala Harris.
[Article title:] For Kamalamentum, the Next Three Weeks Are Critical
2024 August 19, Ben Mathis-Lilley, “For Kamalamentum, the Next Three Weeks Are Critical”, in Slate, New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Aug 2024:As my dear colleague @ericbradner notes here, it's now OK (as it'll ever be) to say Kamalamentum 2020
[2017 June 16, @GregJKrieg, Twitter (post), archived from the original on 30 Jul 2026:True. But 18-29 women broke hard left. ¶ Especially after Dobbs and Kamalamentum.
2025 July 24, @honestpollster, X (post), archived from the original on 30 Jul 2026:KAMALAMENTUM
[2012 September 6, @igorbobic, Twitter (post), archived from the original on 30 Jul 2026:Stephen Colbert on Tuesday reveled in the "Kamalamentum" after Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly secured enough delegate votes for the Democratic nomination while breaking donation records.
2024 July 24, Ron Dicker, “Stephen Colbert Casts Joe Biden In A New Role To 'Defeat The Dark Side'”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 30 Jul 2026:As upbeat Democrats ride a wave of Kamalamentum into their convention in Chicago next week, a seasoned strategist explains how almost everything about the presidential race has changed over the last 30 days.
2024 August 17, Ryan Lizza, “'A Completely Different Campaign': How Kamala Harris Reopened the Electoral College Map”, in Politico, archived from the original on 21 Aug 2024:What the Kamalamentum effort shares with that 2008 phenomenon is one of Barack Obama's favorite words: "audacity."
2024 July 27, Ross Douthat, “Kamala Harris and the Audacity of Desperation”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Aug 2024:Sometimes, I reflect on that moment, reassuring myself "Couldn't have FDR without Al Smith failing first", but my god, our collective illusion of Kamalamentum was more humiliating than anything here that flopped before.
2025 May 30, sud_int, “Even as a Harris voter, I acknowledge that some of the nonsense coming out of that campaign was pretty desperate.”, in r/stupidpol (Reddit post), archived from the original on 30 Jul 2026: