election

See also: élection and êlection

English

Etymology

From Middle English eleccioun, eleccion, from Anglo-Norman eleccioun, from Latin ēlectiōn-, stem of ēlectiō (“choice, selection”), from ēligō (“I pluck out, I choose”). Equivalent to elect +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ĭ-lĕk'shən, IPA^(key): /ɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)n/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /əˈlɛkʃ(ə)n/
• Hyphenation: elect‧ion
• Rhymes: -ɛkʃən

Noun

election (countable and uncountable, plural elections)

1. A process of choosing a leader, members of parliament, councillors, or other representatives by popular vote.

   The parliamentary election(s) will be held in March.

   How did you vote in (UK also: at) the last election?

   • 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     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.

2. The choice of a leader or representative by popular vote.

   The election of John Smith was due to his broad appeal.

3. An option that is selected.

   W-4 election

4. (archaic) Any conscious choice.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 20, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     Whosoever searcheth all the circumstances and embraceth all the consequences thereof hindereth his election.

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Followers and Friends”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     To use men with much difference and election is good.

   • 1830, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on The Pilgrim's Progress:

     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 […]

5. (theology) In Calvinism, God's predestination of saints including all of the elect.
   • 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:

     [H]e [Paul] laboureth to comfort Timothy vvith the remembrance of the ſtedfaſtneſs of Gods eternal decree of Election, becauſe grounded on his foreknowledge; […]

6. (obsolete) Those who are elected.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 11:7:

     The election hath obtained it.

Synonyms

• (theology): chosenness

Hyponyms

• direct election
• general election
• indirect election
• primary election
• snap election

Derived terms

• antielection
• byelection
• by-election
• e-election
• election campaign
• electioneer
• electioneering
• electionless
• electionlike
• election night
• electionspeak
• election threshold
• khaki election
• midterm election
• nonelection
• postelection
• pre-election, preelection
• pseudoelection
• pseudo-election
• re-election
• reelection
• special election
• subelection
• sweat like a nigger on election day
• unconditional election
• unelection
• wave election

 

Related terms

• elect
• electional
• election of remedies
• election theft
• elective
• elector
• electoral
• electorate

 

Translations

process of choosing a new leader or representatives by popular vote

• Afrikaans: verkiesing (af)
• Albanian: zgjedhje (sq) f
• Amharic: ምርጫ (mərč̣a)
• Antillean Creole: léléksion
• Arabic: اِنْتِخَاب m (intiḵāb), اِنْتِخَابَات pl (intiḵābāt)
• Armenian: ընտրություններ (hy) pl (əntrutʻyunner)
• Assamese: নিৰ্বাচন (nirrason)
• Asturian: eleición f
• Azerbaijani: seçki (az)
• Belarusian: вы́бары m pl (výbary)
• Bengali: নির্বাচন (bn) (nirbacon), ইন্তেখাব (bn) (intekhab)
• Breton: votadeg (br) f, eleksion f
• Bulgarian: и́збори (bg) m pl (ízbori)
• Burmese: ရွေးချယ်တင်မြှောက်ပွဲ (my) (rwe:hkyaitanghmraukpwai:), ရွေးကောက်ပွဲ (my) (rwe:kaukpwai:), ရွေးချယ် (my) (rwe:hkyai)
• Catalan: elecció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 選舉／选举 (syun² geoi²)

  Dungan: щүанҗү (xüanžü)

  Eastern Min: 選舉／选举 (sōng-gṳ̄)

  Gan: 選舉／选举 (xyon³ jy³)

  Hakka: 選舉／选举 (PFS: sién-kí; Guangdong: xiên³ mu³)

  Hokkien: 選舉／选举 (zh-min-nan) (soán-kú / soán-kír / soán-kí)

  Mandarin: 選舉／选举 (zh) (xuǎnjǔ)

  Wu: 選舉／选举 (⁵shi-ciu₅)

• Coptic: ⲯⲩⲫⲟⲥ (psuphos)
• Czech: volby (cs) f pl
• Danish: valg (da) n
• Dutch: verkiezing (nl) f
• Esperanto: elekto, balotado
• Estonian: valimine, valimised pl
• Faroese: val (fo) n
• Finnish: vaali (fi)
• French: élection (fr) f
• Friulian: elezion f
• Galician: elección (gl) f
• Georgian: არჩევნები pl (arčevnebi)
• German: Wahl (de) f
• Greek: εκλογή (el) f (eklogí), εκλογές (el) f pl (eklogés)

  Ancient Greek: ἀρχαιρεσίαι f pl (arkhairesíai), αἵρεσις f (haíresis), χειροτονία f (kheirotonía)

• Gujarati: ચૂંટણી (cū̃ṭṇī)
• Hebrew: בְּחִירוֹת (he) (bkhirot)
• Hindi: चुनाव (hi) m (cunāv), इंतिख़ाबात pl (intixābāt), निर्वाचन (hi) m (nirvācan), इंतिख़ाब m (intixāb)
• Hungarian: választás (hu)
• Icelandic: kosningar (is) f pl
• Ido: elekto (io)
• Indonesian: pemilihan (id)
• Irish: toghchán m
• Italian: elezione (it) f
• Japanese: 選挙 (ja) (せんきょ, senkyo)
• Kabuverdianu: ileison
• Kannada: ಚುನಾವಣೆ (kn) (cunāvaṇe)
• Kazakh: сайлау (sailau)
• Khmer: ការបោះឆ្នោត (kaa bɑh chnaot)
• Korean: 선거(選擧) (ko) (seon'geo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھەڵبژاردن (ckb) (hellbjardin)

  Northern Kurdish: hilbijartin (ku)

• Kyrgyz: шайлоо (ky) (şayloo)
• Lao: ການເລືອກຕັ້ງ (lo) (kān lư̄ak tang)
• Latvian: vēlēšanas f pl
• Lithuanian: rinkimai (lt) m pl
• Macedonian: избори (mk) m pl (izbori)
• Malay: pilihan raya (ms)

  Jawi: ڤيليهن راي (pilihan raya)

• Malayalam: തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ് (ml) (tiraññeṭuppŭ)
• Maltese: elezzjoni f pl
• Manx: reihys m
• Maori: pōtitanga
• Marathi: निवडणूक (mr) f (nivaḍṇūk)
• Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭩𐭧𐭲𐭭 (ʿyḥtn)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: сонгууль (mn) (songuulʹ)

  Mongolian: ᠰᠣᠩᠭᠤᠭᠤᠯᠢ (songɣuɣuli)

• Norman: êlection f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: valg (no) n

  Nynorsk: val n

• Occitan: eleccion (oc) f
• Odia: ନିର୍ବାଚନ (or) (nirbācana)
• Oromo: filannoo
• Pashto: ټاکنه (ps) f (ṭākǝna), انتخابات (ps) m pl (entexābāt)
• Persian:

  Dari: اِنْتِخَابَات (fa) (intixābāt), اِنْتِخَاب (fa) (intixāb)

  Iranian Persian: اِنْتِخابات (fa) (entexâbât), اِنْتِخاب (fa) (entexâb)

• Piedmontese: elession f
• Plautdietsch: Wol f
• Polish: wybory (pl) nvir
• Portuguese: eleição (pt) f
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਚੋਣ f (coṇ), ਨਿਰਵਾਚਨ m (nirvācan)

• Romanian: alegeri (ro) f pl, elecțiune (ro) f (rare)
• Russian: вы́боры (ru) m pl (výbory)
• Sanskrit: निर्वाचनम् n (nirvācanam)
• Scottish Gaelic: taghadh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: избори m pl

  Roman: izbori (sh) m pl

• Sinhalese: මැතිවරණය (si) (mætiwaraṇaya)
• Slovak: voľby f pl
• Slovene: volitve f pl
• Spanish: elección (es) f, elecciones (es) f pl
• Swahili: uchaguzi (sw)
• Swedish: val (sv) n
• Tagalog: eleksiyon, botohan, halalan
• Tajik: интихобот (tg) pl (intixobot)
• Tamil: தேர்தல் (ta) (tērtal)
• Tatar: сайлаулар (tt) pl (saylawlar)
• Telugu: ఎన్నిక (te) (ennika)
• Tetum: eleisaun
• Thai: การเลือกตั้ง (th) (gaan-lʉ̂ʉak-dtâng)
• Tibetan: འོས་བསྡུ ('os bsdu), འོས་ཤོག ('os shog)
• Tigrinya: ምምራጽ (məmraṣ), ምርጫ (mərč̣a)
• Turkish: seçim (tr), saylav (tr)
• Turkmen: saýlav
• Ukrainian: ви́бори m pl (výbory)
• Urdu: اِنْتِخابات (ur) m pl (intixābāt), اِنْتِخاب (ur) m (intixāb)
• Uyghur: سايلام (ug) (saylam)
• Uzbek: saylov (uz), (obsolete) intixob (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự bầu cử (vi), tuyển cử (vi) (選舉)
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: etholiad (cy) m
• Yiddish: וואַלן pl (valn)

choice of a leader or representatives

• Armenian: ընտրություն (hy) (əntrutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: и́збор (bg) m (ízbor), изби́ране n (izbírane)
• Catalan: elecció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 選任／选任 (xuǎnrèn), 選出／选出 (zh) (xuǎnchū)

• Danish: valg (da) n
• Esperanto: elektado
• Finnish: valinta (vaaleilla) (fi)
• French: élection (fr) f
• Greek: εκλογή (el) f (eklogí)
• Japanese: 選任 (ja) (せんにん, sennin), 選出 (ja) (せんしゅつ, senshutsu)
• Kabuverdianu: ileison
• Korean: 선임(選任) (ko) (seonim), 선출(選出) (ko) (seonchul)
• Polish: wybór (pl) m
• Portuguese: eleição (pt) f
• Romanian: alegere (ro) f, selecție (ro) f, desemnare (ro) f
• Russian: избра́ние (ru) n (izbránije)
• Spanish: elección (es) f
• Tagalog: botohan, halalan, eleksiyon

conscious choice

• Bulgarian: и́збор (bg) m (ízbor)
• Catalan: elecció (ca) f
• Danish: valg (da) n
• Faroese: val (fo) n
• Greek: εκλογή (el) f (eklogí)
• Romanian: alegere (ro) f
• Russian: вы́бор (ru) m (výbor)
• Spanish: elección (es) f

See also

• psephology

See also

• Election on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Predestination on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle French

Noun

election f (plural elections)

1. choice; selection (person, object that is selected)
2. election (act or process of being elected to an office)