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candidate

Pronunciation: /ˈkæn.dɪ.dət/

The English word “candidate” has 10 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A person who seeks to be elected or appointed to a position or privilege.
  2. A person who is thought likely or worthy to gain a position or privilege.
  3. A participant in an examination.
  4. Someone or something likely or suited to undergo or be chosen for a purpose.
  5. A student taking a degree who has finished the coursework but has other remaining requirements such as a dissertation.
  6. The recipient of certain academic degrees, now mainly awarded in Scandinavia.
  7. A gene which may play a role in a given disease.

verb

  1. To stand as a candidate for an office, typically for a religious one.
  2. To make or name (something) as a candidate (to be chosen or deemed suitable for a purpose).
  3. To make white; to whitewash.

Etymology

From Latin candidātus (“a person who is standing for public office”, noun), from candidus (“dazzling white, shining, clear”) + -ātus, -āta, -ātum (participial adjective-forming suffix), in reference to Roman candidates wearing bleached white togas as a symbol of purity at a public forum. By surface analysis, candid + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.