Link Centre Dictionary

ballot

bal·lot

UK/ˈbælət/ US/ˈbælət/ fairly common us
noun (2) verb (1)

noun

1.

a document listing the alternatives that is used in voting

2.

a choice that is made by voting

  • “there were only 17 votes in favor of the motion”
Synonyms

verb

1.

vote by ballot

  • “The voters were balloting in this state”

Origin

Borrowed from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta (“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla (“bale, bundle”) + -otta (suffix forming diminutive nouns); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte (“small ball used to register a vote”) (also compare Middle French balotiage, French ballottage (“second ballot, runoff”)); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *ballu (“ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz (“ball”).

Phrases

  • absentee ballot
  • Australian ballot
  • ballot box
  • ballot candy
  • ballot chasing
  • ballot collecting
  • ballot curing
  • ballot harvesting

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.