DictionaryAI

candidate

KAN-di-dayt/ˈkæn.dɪ.deɪt/UKKAN-di-duht/ˈkæn.dɪdət/
As a verbKAN-di-dayt

Pluralcandidates

6 meanings of candidate

Practice

  1. 1
    seeking electionnouncountable
    Someone trying to obtain a position or privilege through election or appointment.

    The candidate spent months campaigning across the state.

    Three candidates filed paperwork to run for mayor.

    UsageUse for before the office or job: a candidate for mayor, the party's candidate for president.

    Similarcontender, nominee, aspirant

    Note

    Rome dressed its office-seekers in white. Latin candidatus comes from candidus, "dazzling white," after the bleached togas candidates wore as a sign of purity. The same root gives English candid, which once meant white.

  2. 2
    likely choicenouncountable
    A person or thing considered likely or well suited to be chosen for something, such as a job, an honor, or a particular purpose.

    The empty lot is a prime candidate for a new park.

    Several drugs emerged as candidates for further testing.

    UsageUsually a candidate for something, often with an adjective: a prime candidate for, a strong candidate for the award.

    Note

    The widest sense applies to things as readily as to people: drugs, an empty lot, suitors. Scientists often put a noun in front to say what the thing may prove to be, as in the exoplanet candidates found by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope. With people the word keeps an air of selection: suitors presented to a woman remain candidates until she chooses or rejects them.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • NASA's Kepler space telescope identified exoplanet candidates. nasa.gov
  3. 3
    exam takernouncountable
    A person taking part in an examination.

    Every candidate received a unique seat number for the exam.

    Examiners reminded candidates to silence their phones before starting.

    Similarexaminee

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    seek church postverbrareintransitive
    To put oneself forward for selection to an office, most often a position in a church or other religious body.

    After two phone interviews, the search committee invited him to candidate at their church in May, preaching on Sunday and meeting the congregation.

    The matter of candidating for a pulpit is not a matter of difference between congregations and Rabbis, but between Rabbis themselves.
    1906, Year Book of the Central Conference of American Rabbis

    UsageUsually candidate at a church or candidate for a position, most often a pulpit.

    Similarrun, stand

    Note

    The Year Book of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (1906) speaks of candidating for a pulpit, and Susan H. Jones's Listening for God's Call (2014) uses it for ordained ministry. Often it means preaching before a congregation that then votes on whether to extend a call. William Harvey Allen (1917) applies it to a school principal, so the religious lean is a tendency, not a rule.

  2. 5
    proposeverbnonstandardtransitive
    To name or put something forward as a candidate to be chosen or deemed suitable for a purpose.
    Performance comparison of solar energy conversion candidated for SPS. (From NASA, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston 1977.)
    1982, Brian O'Leary, Space industrialization

    UsageIn edited writing, say put forward or name as a candidate instead; many readers take this verb for an error.

    Similarnominate, propose

    Note

    Made from the noun, this verb turns up mainly in technical writing and remains chiefly jargon or the English of non-native speakers. It appears as a participle (activities "will be candidated for scheduling") and in the active (evaluating costs "in order to candidate it for evolution").

  3. 6
    noun
    A gene that may play a role in a particular disease.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of candidate apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Latin candidātus ("a person standing for public office"), from candidus ("dazzling white, shining, clear") plus a participial suffix. The name refers to Roman candidates who wore bleached white togas as a symbol of purity at the public forum. By surface analysis, candid + -ate.

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 7 facts