write-in
noun
Simple meaning
A vote cast by writing in the name of a candidate who is not listed on the ballot.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rytinSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹaɪtɪn
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
politics
A vote cast by writing in the name of a candidate who is not listed on the ballot
politics
A candidate for public office whose name does not appear on the ballot and so must be written on the ballot by the voters
politics
A candidate whose name is not listed on the ballot.
politics
A vote made for a candidate of this kind.
A social event for authors, at which they meet up to work on their writing together.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A vote cast by writing in the name of a candidate who is not listed on the ballot
Used this way, write-in is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.