Shortlist

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of short list. alt-of, alternative

    "The government's New Towns Taskforce has also published a report listing Crews Hill, on the Hertford Loop used by Moorgate services, on a shortlist of 12 potential new towns."

  2. 2
    a list of applicants winnowed from a longer list who have been deemed suitable and from which the successful person will be chosen wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To place something on a short list.

    "First and Trenitalia were initially shortlisted for the East Midlands franchise but withdrew from bidding to focus on the West Coast Partnership, while Trenitalia was shortlisted as a sole entity for the South Eastern franchise but again withdrew from the competition."

  2. 2
    put someone or something on a short list wordnet

Example

More examples

"Only two applicants made it onto the shortlist."

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.