selection

[ si-lek-shuhn ]
See synonyms for: selectionselections on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. an act or instance of selecting or the state of being selected; choice.

  2. a thing or a number of things selected.

  1. an aggregate of things displayed for choice, purchase, use, etc.; a group from which a choice may be made: The store had a wide selection of bracelets.

  2. Biology. any natural or artificial process that results in differential reproduction among the members of a population so that the inheritable traits of only certain individuals are passed on, or are passed on in greater proportion, to succeeding generations.: Compare natural selection, sexual selection, kin selection, artificial selection.

  3. Linguistics.

    • the choice of one form instead of another in a position where either can occur, as of ask instead of tell or with in the phrase ask me.

    • the choice of one semantic or syntactic class of words in a construction, to the exclusion of others that do not occur there, as the choice of an animate object for the verb surprise.

Origin of selection

1
First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin sēlēctiōn-, stem of sēlēctiō; equivalent to select + -ion

Other words for selection

Opposites for selection

Other words from selection

  • se·lec·tion·al, adjective
  • non·se·lec·tion, noun
  • re·se·lec·tion, noun
  • su·per·se·lec·tion, noun

Words Nearby selection

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use selection in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for selection

selection

/ (sɪˈlɛkʃən) /


noun
  1. the act or an instance of selecting or the state of being selected

  2. a thing or number of things that have been selected

  1. a range from which something may be selected: this shop has a good selection of clothes

  2. biology the natural or artificial process by which certain organisms or characters are reproduced and perpetuated in the species in preference to others: See also natural selection

  3. a contestant in a race chosen as likely to win or come second or third

  4. Australian

    • the act of free-selecting

    • a tract of land acquired by free-selection

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012