elect

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).

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

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt

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?

• reprobate

• president-elect

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

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

When denoting someone who has been elected but not yet entered office, the title is usually hyphenated (e.g. president-elect, senator-elect, representative-elect, mayor-elect, etc.). The plural forms are created by pluralizing the office (e.g. presidents-elect, senators-elect, representatives-elect, mayors-elect, etc.).

• “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.