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tactical voting

British

noun

(in an election) the practice of casting one's vote not for the party of one's choice but for the second strongest contender in order to defeat the likeliest winner

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

But how does that play into a Scottish election campaign where tactical voting is already a given?

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026

That, in part, explains why Mr Ross waded into a row over tactical voting.

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2023

A similar tactical voting strategy has been tried before, not always with success.

From New York Times • Sep. 15, 2021

Navalny’s allies want to use the app to organise a tactical voting campaign.

From Reuters • Sep. 2, 2021

Here is Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, on tactical voting.

From The Guardian • Oct. 30, 2019

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023