GeezerVison

See also: élection and êlection

English

Etymology

From Middle English eleccioun, eleccion, from Anglo-Norman eleccioun, from Latin ēlectiōn-, stem of ēlectiō (“choice, selection”), from ēligō (“to pluck out, to choose”). Equivalent to elect +‎ -ion. Displaced native Old English cyre (“choice, free will, election”).

Pronunciation

enPR: ĭ-lĕk'shən
(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈlɛkʃən/, [-ʃən] ~ [-ʃn̩]
- Audio (US): (file)
(Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /əˈlekʃən/, [-ʃən] ~ [-ʃn̩]
- (Australia) IPA^(key): [əˈlekʃən] ~ [-le̞k-] ~ [-ʃn̩]
- (New Zealand) IPA^(key): [əˈle̝kʃən] ~ [-lɪk-] ~ [-ʃn̩]
Hyphenation: elec‧tion
Rhymes: -ɛkʃən

Noun

election (countable and uncountable, plural elections)

A process of choosing a leader, members of parliament, councillors, or other representatives by popular vote.
The parliamentary election(s) will be held in March.

How did you vote in (UK also: at) the last election?
- 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 November 2025:
  That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past.
The choice of a leader or representative by popular vote.
The election of John Smith was due to his broad appeal.
An option that is selected.
W-4 election
(archaic) Any conscious choice.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 20, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
  Whosoever searcheth all the circumstances and embraceth all the consequences thereof hindereth his election.
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Followers and Friends”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
  To use men with much difference and election is good.
- 1830, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on The Pilgrim's Progress:
  The predestinative force of a free agent's own will in certain absolute acts, determinations, or elections, and in respect of which acts it is one either with the divine or the devilish will; and if the former, the conclusions to be drawn from God's goodness, faithfulness, and spiritual presence; these supply grounds of argument of a very different character […]
(theology) In Calvinism, God's predestination of saints including all of the elect.
- 1684, John Bunyan, A Holy Life, the Beauty of Christianity: Or, An Exhortation to Christians to be Holy, London: […] B. W. for Benj[amin] Alsop, […], →OCLC, page 3:
  [H]e [Paul] laboureth to comfort Timothy vvith the remembrance of the ſtedfaſtneſs of Gods eternal decree of Election, becauſe grounded on his foreknowledge; […]
(obsolete) Those who are elected.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 11:7:
  The election hath obtained it.