applicant
noun
Simple meaning
Someone who requests or seeks something such as assistance or employment or admission.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
aplihkuhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈæplɪkənt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
One who applies for something; one who makes a request; a petitioner.
A person who requests or seeks something such as assistance or employment or admission
specificlaw
A party who initiates legal proceedings against another party.
The third coordinate (or z-coordinate) in a three-dimensional coordinate system.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: One who applies for something; one who makes a request; a petitioner.
Used this way, applicant is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- applier , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use applicant
- “The most qualified applicant got the job after several interviews.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: one who applies for something
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.