Did you know?

Click any word in a definition or example to find the entry for that word

elect

 - definition
Close

What are red words?

90% of the time, speakers of English use just 7,500 words in speech and writing. These words appear in red, and are graded with stars. One-star words are frequent, two-star words are more frequent, and three-star words are the most frequent.

Close

Thesaurus

The thesaurus of synonyms and related words is fully integrated into the dictionary entries. Click on the T button in an entry to review the synonyms and related words for that meaning.

more
verb [transitive] British English pronunciation: elect /ɪˈlekt/ 
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theyelect
he/she/itelects
present participleelecting
past tenseelected
past participleelected

Related dictionary definitions

  1. to choose someone by voting so that they represent you or hold an official position

    Every nation should have a right to elect its own government.

    The council is elected by popular vote.

    elect someone to something:

    He was elected to parliament by a large majority.

    elect someone as something:

    Lee Yuan-tzu was elected the next day as Vice President.

    elect someone president/chairman/leader etc:

    Smith was elected executive chairman of a new steering committee.

    elect someone to do something:

    We were elected to tackle poverty, and that’s what we will do.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  electThesaurus entry for this meaning of elect

phrase

This is the British English definition of elect. View American English definition of elect.

Change your default dictionary and thesaurus to American English.

 

vocal fry

a speech habit in which a speaker lowers their voice at the end of a sentence

BuzzWord Article

Word of the Day Word of the Day

glottal stop

a sound made by stopping air as it passes through your throat. In some varieties of spoken...

Open Dictionary

conflict mineral

a mineral which is mined in a place where there is armed conflict, and sold to help pay for weapons

add a word

Blog

A must for anyone with an interest in the changing face of language. The Macmillan Dictionary blog explores English as it is spoken around the world today.

global English and language change from our blog