Election Meaning
/ɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)n/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA process of choosing a leader, members of parliament, councillors, or other representatives by popular vote.
nounThe choice of a leader or representative by popular vote.
Sentence Examples
It is said that there will be an election soon.
Election returns were what we had expected.
The election victory is a clear endorsement of their policies.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The presidential ____ determines who will lead the country for the next term.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is said that there will be an ____ soon.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English eleccioun, eleccion, from Anglo-Norman eleccioun, from Latin ēlectiōn-, stem of ēlectiō (“choice, selection”), from ēligō (“to pluck out, to choose”). Equivalent to elect + -ion. Displaced native Old English cyre (“choice, free will, election”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past."
— 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times:
"Whosoever searcheth all the circumstances and embraceth all the consequences thereof hindereth his election."
— 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 20, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
"To use men with much difference and election is good."
— 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Followers and Friends”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
"The predestinative force of a free agent's own will in certain absolute acts, determinations, or elections, and in respect of which acts it is one either with the divine or the devilish will; and if the former, the conclusions to be drawn from God's goodness, faithfulness, and spiritual presence; these supply grounds of argument of a very different character […]"
— 1830, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on The Pilgrim's Progress:
"[H]e [Paul] laboureth to comfort Timothy vvith the remembrance of the ſtedfaſtneſs of Gods eternal decree of Election, becauſe grounded on his foreknowledge; […]"
— 1684, John Bunyan, A Holy Life, the Beauty of Christianity: Or, An Exhortation to Christians to be Holy, London: […] B. W. for Benj[amin] Alsop, […], →OCLC, page 3:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The presidential ____ determines who will lead the country for the next term.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is said that there will be an ____ soon.