Meanings
choose1
present singular third person chooses · participle present choosing · past chose · nonstandard past choosed · participle past chosen · nonstandard participle past choosed · colloquial participle past chose · first person past singular chose · first person nonstandard past singular choosed · archaic present second person singular choosest · past second person singular chose · nonstandard past second person singular choosed · archaic past second person singular chosest · archaic past second person singular choosedst · present singular third person chooses · archaic present singular third person chooseth
- To pick; to make the choice of; to select.
I chose a nice ripe apple from the fruit bowl.
3 more examples
Secondly, VVhen in exerting any paſſion in action, vve chuſe means inſufficient for the deſign'd end, and deceive ourſelves in our judgment of cauſes and effects.
1739, [David Hume], “Of the Influencing Motives of the Will”, in A Treatise of Human Nature: […], book II (Of the Passions), London: […] John Noon, […], →OCLC, part III (Of the Will and Direct Passions), page 249You may—the memory of what is past half makes me hope you will—have pain in this. A very, very brief time, and you will dismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream, from which it happened well that you awoke. May you be happy in the life you have chosen!
1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 67–68The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.
1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC - To elect.
He was chosen as president in 1990.
- To decide to act in a certain way.
I chose to walk to work today.
- To prefer; to wish; to desire.
Choose truth, and find beauty. Choose love, and embrace change.
2016, Justin Deschamps, (Please provide the book title or journal name)1 more example
The landlady now returned to know if we did not choose a more genteel apartment.
1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC
alternative archaic chuse
- mathematicsThe binomial coefficient of the previous and following number.
The number of distinct subsets of size k from a set of size n is tbinom nk or "n choose k".
choose2
Synonyms & antonyms
verbpick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
choose · verb, conjunction
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵéwseti“to choose, taste”
- Proto-Germanic*keusaną“to test; to choose”
- Proto-West Germanic*keusan
- Old Englishċēosan“to choose, seek out, select, elect, decide, test, accept, settle for, approve”
- Middle Englishchesen
- Englishchoose
From Middle English chesen, from Old English ċēosan (“to choose, seek out, select, elect, decide, test, accept, settle for, approve”), from Proto-West Germanic *keusan, from Proto-Germanic *keusaną (“to test; to choose”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵéwseti (“to choose, taste”), from *ǵews- (“to taste, try”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian kjoze (“to choose”), West Frisian kieze (“to choose”), Dutch kiezen (“to choose”), Low German kesen (“to choose”), German kiesen (“to choose”), Danish kyse (“to frighten”), Faroese and Icelandic kjósa (“to vote; to elect; to choose; to prefer”), Norwegian Nynorsk kjosa, kjose (“to choose”), Swedish tjusa (“to charm; to bewitch”), Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan, “to test”), French choisir (“to choose”); also Breton diuz (“to choose”), Cornish and Welsh dewis (“to choose”), Latin gustō (“to taste, sample”), Ancient Greek γεύω (geúō, “to feed; to taste; to eat; to try; to enjoy”), Czech zkoušet (“to taste; to examine; to rehearse”), Polish kuszać (“to eat”), Russian кушать (kušatʹ, “to have a meal, to eat”), Serbo-Croatian ку̏шати, kȕšati (“to taste; to test”), Ukrainian ку́шати (kúšaty, “to taste; to eat”), куштува́ти (kuštuváty, “to taste”), Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬊𐬱𐬀 (zaoša, “pleasure”), Baluchi and Pashto دوست (dost, “friend”), Northern Kurdish and Zazaki dost (“friend”), Persian دوسْت (dōst / dust, “friend; boyfriend or girlfriend; loved”), Sanskrit जुषते (juṣate, “to enjoy”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →choose · noun
- Middle Englishchose
- Englishchoose
From Middle English chose, chos, chooce, a Northern dialectal form of Middle English chois (“choice”). Cognate with Scots chose, choose, chuse (“choosing, choice, selection”). Doublet of choice, see which for more.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans kies
- kiesto pick
Ancient Greek αἱρέομαι, ἐκλέγω
- αἱρέομαι (hairéomai)to pick
- ἐκλέγω (eklégō)to pick
Arabic اِخْتَارَ, اِخْتَارَ
- اِخْتَارَ (iḵtāra)to pick
- اِخْتَارَ (iḵtāra)to elect
Basque aukeratu, aukeratu
- aukeratuto pick
- aukeratuto elect
Bengali নির্বাচন করা
- নির্বাচন করা (nirbacon kora)to pick
Bulgarian подби́рам, избирам
- подби́рам (podbíram)to pick
- избирам (izbiram)to elect
- решавам (rešavam)to decide to act in a certain way
Catalan triar, escollir
- triarto pick
- escollirto pick
- elegirto pick
- escollirto elect
- triarto elect
- elegirto elect
Chinese Cantonese 揀 /拣, 選擇 /选择
- 揀 /拣 (gaan²)to pick
- 選擇 /选择 (syun² zaak⁶)to pick
Chinese Mandarin 選擇 /选择, 挑選 /挑选
- 選擇 /选择 (xuǎnzé)to pick
- 挑選 /挑选 (tiāoxuǎn)to pick
- 選舉 /选举 (xuǎnjǔ)to elect
- 決定 /决定 (juédìng)to decide to act in a certain way
Czech volit, zvolit
- volitto pick
- zvolitto pick
- vybíratto pick
- vybratto pick
- volitto elect
- zvolitto elect
- vyvolitto elect
- zvolit sito decide to act in a certain way
- rozhodnout seto decide to act in a certain way
Danish vælge, udvælge
- vælgeto pick
- udvælgeto pick
- foretrækketo pick
- vælgeto elect
- kåreto elect
- foretrækketo decide to act in a certain way
- have lystto decide to act in a certain way
- finde for godtto decide to act in a certain way
Dutch kiezen, uitkiezen
- kiezento pick
- uitkiezento pick
- kiezento elect
- verkiezento elect
- kiezento decide to act in a certain way
Esperanto elekti, elekti
- elektito pick
- elektito elect
- volito wish
Estonian valima, valima
- valimato pick
- valimato elect
Finnish valita, valita
- valitato pick
- valitato elect
- päättääto decide to act in a certain way
French choisir, élire
- choisirto pick
- élireto elect
- déciderto decide to act in a certain way
German wählen, auswählen
- wählento pick
- auswählento pick
- wählento elect
- entscheidento decide to act in a certain way
Greek διαλέγω, επιλέγω
- διαλέγω (dialégo)to pick
- επιλέγω (epilégo)to pick
- εκλέγω (eklégo)to elect
Hebrew בחר, בחר
- בחר (bakhár)to pick
- בחר (bakhár)to elect
Hindi चुनना, चुनना
- चुनना (cunnā)to pick
- चुनना (cunnā)to elect
Hungarian kiválaszt, megválaszt
- kiválasztto pick
- megválasztto elect
- választto elect
Icelandic velja, velja
- veljato pick
- veljato elect
Indonesian memilih, pilih
- memilihto pick
- pilihto pick
- memilihto elect
- pilihto elect
Irish roghnaigh, togh
- roghnaighto pick
- toghto pick
- toghto elect
- toghto decide to act in a certain way
Italian scegliere, selezionare
- scegliereto pick
- selezionareto pick
- eleggereto elect
- decidereto decide to act in a certain way
Japanese 選ぶ, 選ぶ
- 選ぶ (erabu)to pick
- 選ぶ (erabu)to elect
Korean 고르다, 택(擇)하다
- 고르다 (goreuda)to pick
- 택(擇)하다 (taekhada)to pick
- 고르다 (goreuda)to elect
- 선택하다 (seontaekhada)to decide to act in a certain way
Latin legō, dēligō
- legōto pick
- dēligōto pick
- ēligōto pick
- creōto pick
- optōto pick
- dēsūmōto pick
- ēligōto elect
- dīligōto elect
- legōto elect
- legōto decide to act in a certain way
- volōto wish
Latvian atlasīt, izvēlēties
- atlasītto pick
- izvēlētiesto elect
Lithuanian pasirinkti, išrinkti
- pasirinktito pick
- išrinktito elect
Malay pilih, pilih
- pilihto pick
- pilihto elect
Māori whiri, kōwhiri
- whirito pick
- kōwhirito pick
- kōwhirito elect
- pōtito elect
Norwegian Bokmål velge
- velgeto pick
Persian گزیدن, برگزیدن
- گزیدن (gazidan)to pick
- برگزیدنto elect
- انتخاب کردنto elect
Polish wybierać, wybrać
- wybieraćto pick
- wybraćto pick
- wybieraćto elect
- wybraćto elect
- decydowaćto decide to act in a certain way
- zdecydowaćto decide to act in a certain way
- decydować się nato decide to act in a certain way
- zdecydować się nato decide to act in a certain way
- wybieraćto wish
- wybraćto wish
- życzyć sobieto wish
- zażyczyć sobieto wish
Portuguese escolher, escolher
- escolherto pick
- escolherto elect
- escolherto decide to act in a certain way
- escolherto decide to act in a certain way
Romanian alege, alege
- alegeto pick
- alegeto elect
- vreato decide to act in a certain way
- preferato decide to act in a certain way
Russian выбира́ть, вы́брать
- выбира́ть (vybirátʹ)to pick
- вы́брать (výbratʹ)to pick
- выбира́ть (vybirátʹ)to elect
- вы́брать (výbratʹ)to elect
- избира́ть (izbirátʹ)to elect
- избра́ть (izbrátʹ)to elect
- взять (vzjatʹ)to elect
- реша́ть (rešátʹ)to decide to act in a certain way
- реши́ть (rešítʹ)to decide to act in a certain way
Scottish Gaelic tagh, tagh
- taghto pick
- taghto elect
- taghto decide to act in a certain way
Slovak vyberať, vybrať
- vyberaťto pick
- vybraťto pick
Spanish escoger, escogitar
- escogerto pick
- escogitarto pick
- escogerto elect
- escogitarto elect
- escogerto decide to act in a certain way
- escogitarto decide to act in a certain way
Swahili -chagua
- -chaguato pick
Swedish välja, välja
- väljato pick
- väljato elect
Tagalog pili, pili
- pilito pick
- pilito elect
Thai เลือก, คัดเลือก
- เลือก (lʉ̂ʉak)to pick
- คัดเลือก (kát lêuak)to pick
- คัด (kát)to pick
- เฟ้น (fén)to pick
- เลือกตั้ง (lʉ̂ʉak-dtâng)to elect
Turkish seçmek, seçmek
- seçmekto pick
- seçmekto elect
Ukrainian вибира́ти, ви́брати
- вибира́ти (vybyráty)to pick
- ви́брати (výbraty)to pick
- вибира́ти (vybyráty)to elect
Urdu چننا, چننا
- چننا (cunnā)to pick
- چننا (cunnā)to elect
Vietnamese chọn, lựa chọn
- chọnto pick
- lựa chọnto pick
- kén chọnto pick
- chọnto elect
Welsh dewis, ethol
- dewisto pick
- etholto elect
Yiddish קלײַבן, אויסקלײַבן
- קלײַבן (klaybn)to elect
- אויסקלײַבן (oysklaybn)to elect
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with choose
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
choose. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choose
“choose.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choose. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “choose,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choose.
Source: choose on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.