1a particular position or job, or the time during which you have it: He was offered a professorship (=the job of professor). in Mr Major’s premiership (=when he was prime minister) her application for British citizenship2the state of having something: Private car ownership has almost doubled in the past ten years. Their friendship developed soon afterwards.3a particular art or skill: his superb musicianship a work of great scholarship →-manship4all the people in a particular group: a magazine with a readership of 9,000 (=with 9,000 readers)