candidate
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Someone who seeks to be elected or appointed to a position or privilege.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kanduhdaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkændədeɪt
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
A person who seeks to be elected or appointed to a position or privilege.
figurative
A person who is thought likely or worthy to gain a position or privilege.
A participant in an examination.
Someone or something likely or suited to undergo or be chosen for a purpose.
verb
To stand as a candidate for an office, typically for a religious one.
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: A person who seeks to be elected or appointed to a position or privilege.
Used this way, candidate 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
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use candidate
- “The best candidate for the job has a lot of experience.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
A person named, or designated, by another, to any office, duty, or position.
A local government area in Adelaide, which includes the suburb.
A politician who is running for public office.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An applicant who is being considered for a job.
A candidate for public office whose name does not appear on the ballot and so must be written on the ballot by the voters.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.