Ballot
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A small ball placed in a container to cast a vote; now, by extension, a piece of paper or card used for this purpose, or some other means used to signify a vote.
"Imagine if the outcome in Michigan is close, and 75% of Biden supporters vote absentee, yet 10% or more of those ballots are rejected."
- 2 a choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative wordnet
- 3 The process of voting, especially in secret; a round of voting.
"July 1836, A. B. (initials of author), London and Westminster Review Article XI, Bribery and Intimidation at Elections the insufficiency of the ballot"
- 4 a document listing the alternatives that is used in voting wordnet
- 5 The total of all the votes cast in an election.
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- 6 A list of candidates running for office; a ticket. US
- 1 To vote or decide by ballot. intransitive
"to ballot for a candidate"
- 2 vote by ballot wordnet
- 3 To draw lots. intransitive
- 4 To invite to vote on a proposal. transitive
"The trade union balloted its members for strike action."
Example
More examples"International observers counted up the ballot."
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta (“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla (“bale, bundle”) + -otta (suffix forming diminutive nouns); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte (“small ball used to register a vote”) (also compare Middle French balotiage, French ballottage (“second ballot, runoff”)); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *ballu (“ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz (“ball”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.