elect

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ēlēctus, past participle of ēligō (“to pick out, choose, elect”), from ē- (“out”) + legō (“to pick out, pick, gather, collect, etc.”); see legend.

Cognate to eclectic, which is via Ancient Greek rather than Latin, hence prefix ἐκ (ek), rather than e- (from ex).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈlɛkt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈlɛkt/, /i-/, /ə-/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Noun

elect (plural elects or elect)

1. One chosen or set apart.
2. (theology) In Calvinist theology, one foreordained to Heaven. In other Christian theologies, someone chosen by God for salvation.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Isaiah 42:1:

     Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Luke 18:7:

     Shall not God avenge his won elect?

Antonyms

• reprobate

Derived terms

• president-elect

Translations

Verb

elect (third-person singular simple present elects, present participle electing, simple past and past participle elected)

1. (transitive) To choose or make a decision (to do something)
2. (transitive) To choose (a candidate) in an election

Derived terms

• could not get elected dogcatcher
• reelect
• self-elect

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

elect (not comparable)

1. (postpositive) Who has been elected in a specified post, but has not yet entered office.

   He is the President elect.

   • 1811, Jane Austen, chapter 16, in Sense and Sensibility:

     She began almost to feel a dislike of Edward; and it ended, as every feeling must end with her, by carrying back her thoughts to Willoughby, whose manners formed a contrast sufficiently striking to those of his brother elect.

2. Chosen; taken by preference from among two or more.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     colours quaint elect

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 1 Timothy 5:21:

     the elect angels

Translations

Further reading

• “elect”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “elect”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.