Vote

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /vəʊt/

Definitions

1. A formal expression of choice or opinion, typically cast in an election or decision-making process
2. A process by which individuals express their choices in determining leadership or making decisions during elections and other settings of group consensus
3. An official act of selecting a candidate or option in an election or organized decision ; the action of expressing one's preference or decision by casting a ballot, often during elections or other group determinations

Etymology: The English noun "vote" is a doublet of "vow," meaning the two words descend from the same ancient source but reached English by different routes. "Vow" came through Old French, while "vote" was borrowed directly from Latin "vōtum," the neuter form of "vōtus," meaning "vowed" or "promised," which itself grew from "voveō," "to vow." Ancient Greek "eúkhomai," meaning "to vow," is a cognate, tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to promise." The sense of a vow, a solemn pledge made to a god or person, is the older one, and the modern sense of casting a ballot grew out of it. A "vōtum" in Latin could be a wish or prayer as well as a pledge, and that wish-and-promise meaning is what the English word preserved before it narrowed to voting.

Synonyms: poll, ballot, elect, choose, decide

Antonyms: abstain, reject, disapprove, refuse, oppose