Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person who seeks or is nominated for an office, prize, or honor.
- n. A student who has nearly completed the requirements for a degree.
- n. One that seems likely to gain a certain position or come to a certain fate: young actors who are candidates for stardom; a memorandum that is a good candidate for the trash can.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A person who seeks or is put forward by others for an office or honor; one who offers himself or is proposed for office or preferment, by election or appointment: as, a candidate for the office of sheriff, or for a degree.
- To render qualified as a candidate.
- To become a candidate; seek or aspire to some office; offer one's self or one's services as a candidate, as a clergyman seeking a parish or a charge; compete with others as a candidate.
- n. One who seeks or is an aspirant for something other than office or preferment: as, a candidate for literary fame; “a candidate of heaven,”
- n. A member of the white-robed body-guard of the Roman emperors, established about 237 a. d. by Gordianus the Younger.
Wiktionary
- n. A person who is running in an election or who is applying to a position for a job.
- n. A participant in an examination.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who offers himself, or is put forward by others, as a suitable person or an aspirant or contestant for an office, privilege, or honor.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a politician who is running for public office
- n. someone who is considered for something (for an office or prize or honor etc.)
Etymologies
- Latin candidātus, clothed in white (from the white togas worn by Romans seeking office), candidate, from candidus, white; see candid.
Examples
“Polling on a write-in candidate is notoriously hard to do accurately, for starters.”
The Huffington Post: Chris Weigant: Senate Midterm Election Overview
“The main candidate is Jose Serra, who was the governor of Sao Paulo State, and he's a very capable administrator, and he had been very popular in this area.”
NPR: Brazil's 'Most Popular Politician On Earth' Prepares Exit
“The traditional role of the VP candidate is to attack the Presidential candidate from the other party - the Prez candidate himself can be quiet to keep his hands clean, but the case needs to be made.”
“I have no idea what a Bush/McCain candidate is .... to my recollection, McCain is a member of the Senate .... not the executive branch.”
“Fortunately that fear-monger/anything to win candidate is done .....”
“The two joined forces against a local candidate from a powerful English Protestant mercantile family, Lieutenant Robert Carter, to support a drop-in candidate from St. John's, Irish Catholic merchant Patrick Morris. 12 When the polls opened, Winsor spoke against Carter, using "very tantalizing language towards him to create popularity among the crowd.”
“How did a discussion of whether a candidate is a good Christian become part and parcel of a discussion of who should enter a national political body in the year 2010?”
The Huffington Post: Stanton Peele: Sometimes It's Hard to Be a Democrat
“How did a discussion of whether a candidate is a "good Christian" become part and parcel of a discussion of who should enter a national political body in the year 2010?”
The Huffington Post: Stanton Peele: Sometimes It's Hard to Be a Democrat
“And remember, just because the candidate is a woman doesn't mean she supports equality and action that will return our country to economic prosperity.”
The Huffington Post: Marcia Reynolds: Gender Equality: Why Do We Still Lag Behind Other Countries?
“When I enter the voting booth next Tuesday, I won't ask myself if a candidate is a person who will always do the right thing.”
The Huffington Post: Richard (RJ) Eskow: I Know, I Know. Vote Anyway!
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘candidate’.
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Dramatic Nouns
Nouns to be used as descriptions while writing stories
night owl, early bird, hedonist, ascetic, derelict, explorer, radical, pity friend, cupid, truant, caretaker, guardian and 120 more...
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Society
social work, coverage, affiliate, social security, ambulance, clinic, health, insurance, emergency, mail, letter, envelope and 101 more...
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It's a date!
date, date palm, dating, save the date, it's a date, radiocarbon dating, uranium-thorium d..., rubidium-strontiu..., date night, date of birth, dateline, double date and 66 more...
pterodactyl See this map for American pronunciation. Apr 10, 2008