Choose

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /t͡ʃuːz/

Definitions

1. To pick or select one option from among several possibilities based on preference or judgment
2. To make a selection from multiple alternatives based on personal preferences or criteria
3. To determine a particular option from various choices using discernment or desire

Etymology: The verb "choose" is a close relative of the taste word. Its ancestor, Old English "ċēosan," meant "to test" or "to try" as much as "to select," and the Proto-Germanic root "keusaną" carried that testing sense too. The link to tasting runs back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to taste, try," so the idea of picking something was once bound up with sampling it. Latin "gustō," meaning "to taste," belongs to the same family, as does Greek "geúō" ("to taste" or "to try"), showing how widely that root spread. Choosing as sampling eventually narrowed to selection, while the older testing sense faded. The Old English verb grew into Middle English "chesen," and the modern form took shape from there. Meanwhile the noun "choice" is a doublet: a related word that arrived in English by a different route, from Old French, and the two forms developed separately.

Synonyms: select, pick, decide, elect, opt

Antonyms: reject, dismiss, refuse, neglect, abandon