Elect
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 One chosen or set apart.
- 2 an exclusive group of people wordnet
- 3 In Calvinist theology, one foreordained to Heaven. In other Christian theologies, someone chosen by God for salvation.
"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth."
- 1 To choose or make a decision (to do something). transitive
- 2 choose wordnet
- 3 To choose (a candidate) in an election. transitive
"President Obama in a speech this past week said that we should solve the nation's bee problem. Oh, God, we elected a guy who sympathizes with bees?"
- 4 select by a vote for an office or membership wordnet
- 1 Who has been elected in a specified post, but has not yet entered office. not-comparable, postpositional
"He is the President elect."
- 2 Chosen; taken by preference from among two or more. not-comparable
"colours quaint elect"
- 1 elected but not yet installed in office wordnet
- 2 selected as the best wordnet
Example
More examples"We will elect whoever we believe is worthy."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin ēlēctus, past participle of ēligō (“to pick out, choose, elect”), from ē- (“out”) + legō (“to pick out, pick, gather, collect, etc.”); see legend. Cognate to eclectic, which is via Ancient Greek rather than Latin, hence prefix ἐκ (ek), rather than e- (from ex).
Related phrases
More for "elect"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.