What does "selection" mean?
The process or act of selecting.
Selection
/səˈlɛkʃən/ noun
noun ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The process or act of selecting.
- Grammar: selection is listed as noun.
- Nearest alternatives: choice, option, pick, abstract.
- Useful contrasts: artificial selection, class rep election, crossed out mark.
- Usage evidence: My mother prefers the arbitrary selection of the lottery machines over my lucky numbers.
How to use "selection"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "selection" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "selection" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "selection" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "selection" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "selection" is acting as noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "choice" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "selection", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The process or act of selecting. countable, uncountable
"The large number of good candidates made selection difficult."
- 2 the act of choosing or selecting wordnet
- 3 Something selected. countable, uncountable
"My final selection was a 1934 Chateau Lafite."
- 4 the person or thing chosen or selected wordnet
- 5 A variety of items taken from a larger collection. countable, uncountable
"I've brought a selection of fine cheeses to go with your wine."
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 a passage selected from a larger work wordnet
- 7 A musical piece. countable, uncountable
"For my next selection, I'll play Happy Birthday in F-sharp minor."
- 8 an assortment of things from which a choice can be made wordnet
- 9 A set of data obtained from a database using a query. countable, uncountable
- 10 a natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms best adapted to the environment wordnet
- 11 The ability of predicates to determine the semantic content of their arguments. ᵂᵖ countable, uncountable
- 12 A list of items on which user operations will take place. ᵂᵖ countable, uncountable
- 13 A unary operation that denotes a subset of a relation. countable, uncountable
- 14 The free selection before survey of crown land in some Australian colonies under land legislation introduced in the 1860s. ᵂᵖ countable, historical, uncountable
"Our selection adjoined a sheep-run on the Darling Downs, and boasted […] a forest of box-trees, a stock-yard, and six acres under barley[.]"
- 15 The free selection before survey of crown land in some Australian colonies under land legislation introduced in the 1860s. ᵂᵖ; A plot of land, or farm, thus selected. Australia, countable, historical, uncountable
- 16 The stage of a genetic algorithm in which individual genomes are chosen from a population for later breeding. ᵂᵖ countable, uncountable
- 17 Ellipsis of natural selection. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
"Slow though the process of selection may be, if feeble man can do much by his powers of artificial selection, I can see no limit to the amount of change, to the beauty and infinite complexity of the coadaptations between all organic beings, one with another and with their physical conditions of life, which may be effected in the long course of time by nature’s power of selection."
Antonyms
Example
"My mother prefers the arbitrary selection of the lottery machines over my lucky numbers."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "selection"?
Common synonyms include: choice, option, pick, abstract, acumen, algorithm choices.
How do you use "selection" in a sentence?
My mother prefers the arbitrary selection of the lottery machines over my lucky numbers.
How do you pronounce "selection"?
Pronounced /səˈlɛkʃən/.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin sēlēctiō (“the act of choosing out, selection”), from sēligō (“choose out, select”), from sē- (“apart”) + legō (“gather, select”). Equivalent to select + -ion.