Voter

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈvəʊtə(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. A person who participates in an election by casting a ballot to choose representatives or decide issues
2. An individual entitled and registered to select candidates or policies in a political process
3. One who exercises the right to vote, taking part in decision-making during elections

Etymology: "Voter" is about as plain as English word-building gets: the noun "vote" with the agent suffix "-er", which turns an action into the person performing it, the same pattern found in "reader", "baker" and "writer". So a voter is simply one who votes. The more interesting story sits in "vote" itself, which is where the real history lies. The word arrived in English from Latin "votum", meaning a vow or solemn promise, and early uses carried that religious sense of pledging oneself to a deity. Its move toward choosing a candidate or policy came later, as the sense of a formal expression of will in an assembly developed. The suffix did the rest, giving English a name for the person who casts that expression.

Synonyms: elector, participant

Antonyms: non-voter