candidate

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A person who seeks to be elected or appointed to a position or privilege.

   Smith announced he was the party's candidate for the next election.

2. 2
   noun

   A participant in an examination.

   Candidates must remain silent for the entirety of the exam.

3. 3
   noun

   Someone or something likely or suited to undergo or be chosen for a purpose.

   After being presented with various suitors, she decided none of the candidates were the kind of man she was looking for.

4. 4
   noun

   A student taking a degree who has finished the coursework but has other remaining requirements such as a dissertation.

   a Ph.D. candidate

5. 5
   verb

   To stand as a candidate for an office, typically for a religious one.

   The matter of candidating for a pulpit is not a matter of difference between congregations and Rabbis, but between Rabbis themselves.

6. 6
   verb

   To make or name (something) as a candidate (to be chosen or deemed suitable for a purpose).

   Performance comparison of solar energy conversion candidated for SPS. (From NASA, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston 1977.)

7. 7
   noun

   a politician who is running for public office

8. 8
   noun

   someone who is considered for something (for an office or prize or honor etc.)

Etymology

From Latin candidātus (“a person who is standing for public office”, noun), from candidus (“dazzling white, shining, clear”) + -ātus, -āta, -ātum (participial adjective-forming suffix), in reference to Roman candidates wearing bleached white togas as a symbol of purity at a public forum. By surface analysis, candid + -ate (noun-forming suffix).