select

See also: Select and sélect

English

Etymology

From Latin sēlēctus, perfect passive participle of sēligō (“choose out, select”), from sē- (“without; apart”) + legō (“gather, select”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɪˈlɛkt/
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛkt
Hyphenation: se‧lect

Adjective

select (comparative more select, superlative most select)

Privileged, specially selected.
Only a select few were allowed into the premiere.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XX, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
  A few select spirits had separated from the crowd, and formed a fit audience round a far greater teacher.
- 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
  At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
Of high quality; top-notch.
This is a select cut of beef.

Translations

privileged, specially selected

Bulgarian: избран (bg) (izbran), подбран (bg) (podbran)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 特定 (zh) (tèdìng)
Dutch: select (nl)
French: sélect (fr)
Greek:
Ancient: ἐκλεκτός (eklektós)
Hungarian: válogatott (hu), kiválogatott (hu), gondosan összeválogatott, kiszemelt (hu), kiválasztott (hu)
Indonesian: tertentu (id)
Latin: ēlectus
Portuguese: seleto (pt), selecionado (pt)
Slovak: vyvolený

of high quality; top-notch

Bulgarian: висококачествен (bg) (visokokačestven)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 精选 (zh) (jīng xuǎn)
Hungarian: kitűnő (hu), kiváló (hu), exkluzív (hu), választékos (hu), finom (hu), előkelő (hu), válogatott (hu)
Indonesian: pilihan (id)
Portuguese: seleto (pt)
Slovak: vyberaný
Spanish: selecto (es)

Verb

select (third-person singular simple present selects, present participle selecting, simple past and past participle selected)

To choose one or more elements of a set, especially a set of options.
He looked over the menu, and selected the roast beef.

The program computes all the students' grades, then selects a random sample for human verification.
(databases) To obtain a set of data from a database using a query.

Conjugation

Conjugation of select

infinitive	(to) select
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	select	selected
2nd-person singular	select, selectest^†	selected, selectedst^†
3rd-person singular	selects, selecteth^†	selected
plural	select	selected

subjunctive	select	selected

imperative	select	—

participles	selecting	selected

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

(to choose): choose, opt

Antonyms

deselect

Related terms

Translations

to choose one or more elements from a set

Arabic: اِخْتَارَ (iḵtāra)
Egyptian Arabic: اختار (iḵtār)
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Bashkir: һайлау (haylaw)/һайҙау (hayźaw)
Basque: aukeratu, hautatu
Bulgarian: избирам (bg) (izbiram)
Catalan: seleccionar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 選 / 选 (zh) (xuǎn), 挑選 / 挑选 (zh) (tiāoxuǎn), 選拔 / 选拔 (zh) (xuǎnbá)
Czech: vybrat (cs)
Dutch: uitkiezen (nl), selecteer (nl)
Egyptian:

(stp)
Esperanto: elekti, selekti
Estonian: valima
Evenki: синма- (sinma-)
Finnish: valita (fi)
French: choisir (fr), sélectionner (fr)
Galician: escolmar (gl), escoller (gl), seleccionar
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: auswählen (de)
Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waljan)
Greek: επιλέγω (el) (epilégo)
Ancient: αἱρέομαι (hairéomai), ἐκλέγω (eklégō)
Haitian Creole: chwazi
Hebrew: בחר (he) (bakhár)
Higaonon: namili
Hungarian: kiválaszt (hu), (creating a member out of someone, in preference to other candidates) beválogat (hu)
Ido: selektar (io)
Indonesian: memilih (id), pilih (id)
Irish: togh
Italian: scegliere (it), selezionare (it)
Japanese: 選ぶ (ja) (えらぶ, erabu)
Khmer: ជ្រើស (km) (crəəh), រើស (km) (rəəh), ជ្រើសរើស (crəəh rəəh), ចម្រាញ់ (km) (cɑmraɲ)
Korean: 고르다 (ko) (goreuda)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ھەڵبژاردن (ckb) (hellbjardin)

Northern Kurdish: hilbijartin (ku)
Lao: please add this translation if you can
Latin: legō (la), sēligō, dēligō, optō
Luxembourgish: auswielen
Maori: whiri, tīpako (in computing)
Marathi: निवडणे (mr) (nivaḍṇe)
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Nepali: छान्नु (chānnu)
Old English: ceosan
Ottoman Turkish: بگنمك (beğenmek)
Polish: wybierać (pl) impf, wybrać (pl) pf, selekcjonować (pl) impf
Portuguese: escolher (pt), selecionar (pt), optar por, seletar (pt)
Quechua: akllay, chihlluy
Romansch: selecziunar
Russian: отбира́ть (ru) (otbirátʹ)
Sanskrit: वृणोति (sa) (vṛṇoti)
Scottish Gaelic: tagh
Slovak: vybrať, vyberať, vybrať si, vyberať si
Somali: xulid
Spanish: seleccionar (es), cribar (es) (rigorous)
Swedish: välja (sv), välja ut, utvälja (sv)
Telugu: ఎంచు (te) (eñcu), ఎంచుకొను (te) (eñcukonu)
Thai: คัดเลือก (th)
Vietnamese: lựa (vi)
Volapük: sesukön (vo)
Welsh: dewis (cy), dethol (cy)

to obtain a set of data

Chinese:
Mandarin: 选取 (zh) (xuǎnqǔ)
Maori: tīpako
Slovak: vyselektovať, selektovať

Derived terms

from all parts of speech

Anagrams

celest, elects, scelet

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French select.

Adjective

select m or n (feminine singular selectă, masculine plural selecți, feminine and neuter plural selecte)

select

Declension

		masculine	feminine	masculine	neuter
		singular		plural
nominative- accusative	indefinite	select	selectă	selecți	selecte
nominative- accusative	definite	selectul	selecta	selecții	selectele
genitive- dative	indefinite	select	selecte	selecți	selecte
genitive- dative	definite	selectului	selectei	selecților	selectelor