applicant
Americannoun
-
applicants
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of applicant
First recorded in 1475–85, applicant is from the Latin word applicant- (stem of applicāns applying, present participle of applicāre ). See apply, -ant
Explanation
An applicant is someone who signs up or applies for something. A job applicant for example, often fills out a form and then interviews for the position she hopes to get. When you submit your college application to a school you'd like to attend, you are an applicant to that school. Other kinds of applicants are job candidates and scholarship hopefuls. To apply is to put in for or request entry to something, and the root of both apply and applicant is the Old French aploiier, "apply, use, or attach," from the Latin applicare, "attach to, join, or connect."
Vocabulary lists containing applicant
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
First, the applicant pool all but stopped growing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
The applicant told the BBC he disputed it was a greenfield site and there had been greenhouses on the land which were later destroyed and buried.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
It then asks the applicant: What do you do?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Referencing the applicant on whom that single precedent was based, Cameron notes that this is not how the system was designed.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
You may well get a gut feeling that the applicant doesn’t really have what it takes, or maybe that he is a bit standoffish, or maybe that he doesn’t really want the job.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
The government requires applicants to spend at least two weeks in Portugal for the first two years of their residency visa.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
The number of Shorts views over 90 days that new applicants will need to qualify for the YouTube Partner Program starting next February, double the current requirement of 10 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Altomare said students with private Italian sponsors are also not being evacuated, questioning the rationale for rejecting such applicants.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
The threshold is higher in Louisiana and some other states, where applicants are required to prove they are innocent by “clear and convincing” evidence.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
According to a study conducted by the DePaul University College of Law in 2000, of the then-ninety-eight occupations requiring licenses in Illinois, fifty-seven placed stipulations and/or restrictions on applicants with a criminal record.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
