ballot
Americannoun
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a slip or sheet of paper on which a person's vote is marked.
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the method of secret voting by means of printed or written slips or sheets of paper or by means of voting machines.
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voting in general, or a round of voting.
Our candidate was defeated on the third ballot.
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the list of candidates to be voted on.
They succeeded in getting her name placed on the ballot.
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the right to vote.
to gain the ballot after years of struggle.
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the whole number of votes cast or recorded.
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a system or the practice of drawing lots.
The assassin would be chosen by ballot.
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(formerly) a little ball used in voting.
verb (used without object)
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to vote.
to ballot against a candidate.
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to draw lots.
to ballot for places.
verb (used with object)
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to canvass or solicit (a group, membership, etc.) for votes.
Members were balloted on the resolution.
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to select, especially for military service.
Certain age groups will not be balloted at this time.
noun
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the democratic practice of selecting a representative, a course of action, or deciding some other choice by submitting the options to a vote of all qualified persons
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an instance of voting, usually in secret using ballot papers or a voting machine
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the paper on which a vote is recorded
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a list of candidates standing for office
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the number of votes cast in an election
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a random selection of successful applicants for something in which the demand exceeds the supply, esp for shares in an oversubscribed new issue
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the allocation by ballot of farming land among eligible candidates, such as ex-servicemen
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a low-interest housing loan allocated by building societies by drawing lots among its eligible members
verb
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to vote or elicit a vote from
we balloted the members on this issue
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to select (officials, etc) by lot or ballot or to select (successful applicants) at random
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to vote or decide (on an issue, etc)
Other Word Forms
- balloter noun
- nonballoting noun
- preballot verb (used with object)
- reballot noun
- unballoted adjective
Etymology
Origin of ballot
First recorded in 1540–50; from Middle French ballotte, from Venetian Italian ballotta, equivalent to ball ( a ) ball 1 + -otta diminutive suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Palm Beach County voter records show the president voted by mail in a Tuesday special election for state legislative seats and that his ballot has been counted.
From Los Angeles Times
Utah, for example, has had universal mail voting since 2012, meaning that counties could conduct their elections entirely by mail by sending all registered voters a mail ballot.
From Salon
On the lower house floor, lawmakers queued up at a row of tables and dropped their ballots into one of three clear-sided boxes.
From Barron's
In his lawsuit, Bonta argued that Bianco failed to identify a specific crime in the warrants to justify seizing the ballots.
From Los Angeles Times
The ballot, which runs from 31 March to 5 May, comes after staff at the university walked out on strike in November over job losses, staff workload and welfare.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
