candidate

plural candidates

1. A person who seeks to be elected or appointed to a position or privilege.

   Smith announced he was the party's candidate for the next election.

   2 more examples

   All candidates who miss the deadline or make a spelling mistake in their applications are automatically rejected.

   Artiles, a Republican operative with a reputation for a foul mouth and sharp elbows, is accused of financing a sham candidate whose candidacy was intended to siphon votes from a legitimate Democratic candidate in a state Senate race in South Florida’s 37th District. The candidate has the same last name as then-Democratic incumbent Jose Javier Rodriguez but did not actively campaign for the seat and has since admitted being recruited as a spoiler.

   2021 March 18, Scott Glover, Curt Devine and Audrey Ash, “Former Florida state senator charged in spoiler candidate scheme”, in CNN

2. figurativelyA person who is thought likely or worthy to gain a position or privilege.First known use 1760s
3. A participant in an examination.First known use 1690s

   Candidates must remain silent for the entirety of the exam.

4. Someone or something likely or suited to undergo or be chosen for a purpose.

   After being presented with various suitors, she decided none of the candidates were the kind of man she was looking for.

   1 more example

   In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter.

   2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 07 Aug 2013, page 184

5. educationA student taking a degree who has finished the coursework but has other remaining requirements such as a dissertation.

   a Ph.D. candidate

6. educationThe recipient of certain academic degrees, now mainly awarded in Scandinavia.
7. biologyA gene which may play a role in a given disease.

present singular third person candidates · participle present candidating · participle past candidated · past candidated

1. uncommonTo stand as a candidate for an office, typically for a religious one.First known use 1840s

   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, page 196

   2 more examples

   Furthermore, the fact that a school principal has only been in a large school six weeks does not prevent his candidating for principal of a larger school with larger salary.

   1917, William Harvey Allen, Universal Training for Citizenship and Public Service, page 154

   The report Shaping the Future also gives a set of learning outcomes for those people candidating for ordained ministry. These were also agreed by the Methodist Conference.

   2014, Susan H. Jones, Listening for God's Call, SCM Press, →ISBN, page 74

2. nonstandarduncommonchiefly jargon and non-native speakers' EnglishTo make or name (something) 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, CRC

   2 more examples

   In this program if a processor becomes idle, then all feasible activities requiring that kind of processor will be candidated for scheduling. If the number of candidates is more than the number of available processors, activities with higher priority ...

   1989, Institution of Electrical Engineers. Electronics Division, European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design, 5-8 September 1989, Peter Peregrinus Limited, →ISBN

   Evaluate the maintenance costs of the software system in order to candidate it for evolution AA14. Evaluate the hardware platform used and the possibility of migrating the software system toward more economical platforms ...

   2005, Khaled M. Khan, Yan Zhang, Managing Corporate Information Systems Evolution and Maintenance, IGI Global, →ISBN, page 308

present singular third person candidates · participle present candidating · participle past candidated · past candidated

1. figurativelyobsoleteraretransitiveuncommonTo make white; to whitewash.First known use 1628–1677