candidate

See also: candidaté

English

Etymology

From Latin candidātus (“a person who is standing for public office”), 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. Equivalent to candid +‎ -ate (noun-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkæn.dɪdət/, /ˈkæn.dɪ.deɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkæn.dɪ.deɪt/, /ˈkæn.dɪ.dɪt/
• (US, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈkæn.ɪ.dɪt/, /ˈkæn.ɪ.deɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

candidate (plural candidates)

2. A person who is running in an election.

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

4. A person who is applying for a job.

   All candidates who miss the deadline or make a spelling mistake in their applications are automatically rejected.

6. A participant in an examination.

   Candidates must remain silent for the entirety of the exam.

8. Something or somebody that may be suitable.

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

   • 2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 184:

     In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter.

10. (genetics) A gene which may play a role in a given disease.

Derived terms

• candidacy
• candidate key
• candidateship
• candidature
• captive candidate
• darkhorse candidate
• excandidate
• Klandidate
• Manchurian candidate
• multicandidate
• noncandidate
• paper candidate
• precandidate
• private candidate
• release candidate

 

Related terms

• candela
• candelabrum
• candid
• candle
• candlepower
• candlestick
• chandler
• chandlery

 

Translations

person running in an election

• Albanian: kandidat (sq) m, kandidate (sq) f
• Arabic: مُرَشَّح m (muraššaḥ), مُرَشَّحَة f (muraššaḥa)
• Armenian: թեկնածու (hy) (tʻeknacu), կանդիդատ (hy) (kandidat)
• Azerbaijani: namizəd (az)
• Basque: kandidatu
• Belarusian: кандыда́т m (kandydát), кандыда́тка f (kandydátka)
• Bengali: প্রার্থী (bn) (prarthi), খাস্তগীর (khastogir)
• Bulgarian: кандида́т (bg) m (kandidát), кандида́тка f (kandidátka)
• Catalan: candidat (ca) m, candidata (ca) f
• Cherokee: ᎠᏙᎩᏯᏍᎩ (adogiyasgi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 候こう選せん人じん／候こう选人 (hau⁶ syun² jan⁴), 候補こうほ／候こう补 (hau⁶ bou²)

  Mandarin: 候こう選せん人じん／候こう选人 (zh) (hòuxuǎnrén), 候補こうほ／候こう补 (zh) (hòubǔ)

• Czech: kandidát (cs) m, kandidátka (cs) f
• Danish: kandidat c
• Dutch: kandidaat (nl) m, kandidate (nl) f
• Esperanto: kandidato, kandidatino (female)
• Estonian: kandidaat
• Faroese: valevni n
• Finnish: ehdokas (fi), kandidaatti (fi)
• French: candidat (fr) m, candidate (fr) f
• Georgian: კანდიდატი (ḳandidaṭi)
• German: Kandidat (de) m, Kandidatin (de) f, Wahlbewerber m, Wahlbewerberin f
• Greek: υποψήφιος (el) m (ypopsífios), υποψήφια (el) f (ypopsífia)
• Gujarati: ઉમેદવાર m (umedvār)
• Hebrew: מועמד \ מָעֳמָד (he) m (mo'omád), מועמדת f (mo'omédet)
• Hindi: उम्मीदवार m (ummīdvār)
• Hungarian: induló (hu)
• Icelandic: frambjóðandi (is) m
• Indonesian: kandidat (id), calon (id)
• Interlingua: candidato
• Irish: iarrthóir m
• Italian: candidato (it), candidata (it) f
• Japanese: 候補者こうほしゃ (ja) (こうほしゃ, kōhosha), 候補こうほ (ja) (こうほ, kōho)
• Kazakh: үміткер (ümıtker), үмітшіл (ümıtşıl)
• Khmer: បេក្ខជន (km) (peekkhaʼcŭən)
• Korean: 후보자(候補者こうほしゃ) (ko) (huboja), 후보(候補こうほ) (ko) (hubo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: berbijar (ku), namzet (ku), berendam (ku), kandîdat (ku)

• Kyrgyz: кандидат (ky) (kandidat), талапкер (ky) (talapker)
• Lao: ຜູ້ສະໝັກ (phū sa mak)
• Latin: candidatus m
• Latvian: kandidāts m, kandidāte f
• Lithuanian: kandidatas m, kandidatė f
• Macedonian: кандида́т (mk) m (kandidát), кандида́тка f (kandidátka)
• Malay: calon
• Malayalam: സ്ഥാനാർത്ഥി (sthānāṟtthi)
• Maori: kaiwhakauru
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дэвшигч (mn) (devšigč)

  Mongolian: ᠳᠡᠪᠰᠢᠭᠴᠢ (debsiɣči)

• Norman: candidat m, candidate f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kandidat m

  Nynorsk: kandidat m

• Pashto: نامزد (ps) m (nāmzad)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: کانْدیدا (fa) (kândidâ), نامْزَد (fa) (nâmzad)

• Polish: kandydat (pl) m pers, kandydatka (pl) f
• Portuguese: candidato (pt) m, candidata (pt) f
• Romanian: candidat (ro) m, candidată (ro) f
• Russian: кандида́т (ru) m (kandidát), кандида́тка (ru) f (kandidátka)
• Scottish Gaelic: tagraiche m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кандѝда̄т m, кандѝдаткиња f

  Roman: kandìdāt (sh) m, kandìdatkinja (sh) f

• Slovak: kandidát m, kandidátka f
• Slovene: kandidat m, kandidatka f, kandidatinja f
• Spanish: candidato (es) m, candidata (es) f
• Swedish: kandidat (sv) c
• Tagalog: halangad
• Tajik: номзад (nomzad), кандидат (tg) (kandidat)
• Thai: ผู้สมัคร (pûu-sà-màk)
• Turkish: aday (tr), namzet (tr)
• Turkmen: dalaşgär, kandidat
• Ukrainian: кандида́т (uk) m (kandydát), кандида́тка f (kandydátka)
• Urdu: اُمِّیدْوار m (ummīdvār), اُمِّید وار m (ummīd vār), نامْزَد m (nāmzad)
• Uyghur: كاندىدات (kandidat), نامزات (namzat)
• Uzbek: kandidat (uz), nomzod (uz)
• Vietnamese: ứng cử viên (vi) (應おう舉員)
• Volapük: steifädan (vo)

person who is applying for a job

• Armenian: դիմող (hy) (dimoġ), հավակնորդ (hy) (havaknord), թեկնածու (hy) (tʻeknacu)
• Bengali: চাকরিপ্রার্থী (cakriprarthi), খাস্তগীর (khastogir)
• Dutch: kandidaat (nl) m
• German: Kandidat (de) m, Kandidatin (de) f
• Hungarian: jelölt (hu)
• Icelandic: umsækjandi m, kandídat m
• Indonesian: pelamar kerja
• Irish: iarrthóir m
• Malayalam: ഉദ്യോഗാർത്ഥി (udyōgāṟtthi)

participant in an examination

• Bengali: পরীক্ষার্থী (bn) (porikkharthi), খাস্তগীর (khastogir)
• Catalan: candidat (ca) m, candidata (ca) f
• Dutch: examenkandidaat (nl) m
• German: Prüfungskandidat m, Prüfungskandidatin f
• Hungarian: jelölt (hu), érettségiző (hu) sg
• Irish: iarrthóir m
• Italian: candidato (it), candidata (it) f
• Japanese: 受験生じゅけんせい (ja) (じゅけんせい, jukensei)
• Korean: 수험생(受驗生じゅけんせい) (ko) (suheomsaeng)
• Macedonian: кандида́т (mk) m (kandidát), кандида́тка f (kandidátka)
• Malayalam: പരീക്ഷാർത്ഥി (parīkṣāṟtthi)
• Portuguese: candidato (pt) m, candidata (pt) f
• Romanian: candidat (ro) m, candidată (ro) f
• Spanish: candidato (es) m, candidata (es) f, participante (es) m or f

Verb

candidate (third-person singular simple present candidates, present participle candidating, simple past and past participle candidated)

1. (uncommon) To stand as a candidate for an office, especially a religious one.
   • 1906, Year Book of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, page 196:

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

   • 1917, William Harvey Allen, Universal Training for Citizenship and Public Service, page 154:

     Furthermore, the fact that a school principal has only been in a large school six weeks does not prevent his candidating for principal of a larger school with larger salary.

   • 2014, Susan H. Jones, Listening for God's Call, SCM Press, →ISBN, page 74:

     The report Shaping the Future also gives a set of learning outcomes for those people candidating for ordained ministry. These were also agreed by the Methodist Conference.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:candidated.
2. (nonstandard, chiefly in jargon and non-native speakers' English) To make or name (something) a candidate (for use, for study as a next project, for investigation as a possible cause of something, etc).
   • 1982, Brian O'Leary, Space industrialization, CRC:

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

   • 1989, Institution of Electrical Engineers. Electronics Division, European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design, 5-8 September 1989, Peter Peregrinus Limited, →ISBN:

     In this program if a processor becomes idle, then all feasible activities requiring that kind of processor will be candidated for scheduling. If the number of candidates is more than the number of available processors, activities with higher priority ...

   • 2005, Khaled M. Khan, Yan Zhang, Managing Corporate Information Systems Evolution and Maintenance, IGI Global, →ISBN, page 308:

     Evaluate the maintenance costs of the software system in order to candidate it for evolution AA14. Evaluate the hardware platform used and the possibility of migrating the software system toward more economical platforms ...

Translations

to stand as a candidate for an office

• French: candidater (fr)

to make or name (something) a candidate

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

candidate f (plural candidates)

1. female equivalent of candidat

Further reading

• “candidate”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology 1

Noun

candidate f

1. plural of candidata

Etymology 2

Verb

candidate

1. inflection of candidare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 3

Participle

candidate f pl

1. feminine plural of candidato

Latin

Noun

candidāte

1. vocative singular of candidātus

Norman

Noun

candidate f (plural candidates)

1. female equivalent of candidat

Portuguese

Verb

candidate

1. inflection of candidatar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kandiˈdate/ [kãn̪.d̪iˈð̞a.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Syllabification: can‧di‧da‧te

Verb

candidate

1. inflection of candidatar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative