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
But such documents can help when it’s a more senior job, a niche role or a role likely to have a smaller applicant pool, she added.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
Prior to publication, the White House, the FDA, and the Department of Health and Human Services all wouldn’t answer directly whether this applicant with “refractory obesity with obstructive sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension” was Trump.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026
She drags her eyes away from a retreating bin and up to the next applicant.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
That fund already reached the maximum number of applicants, according to the Orange County United Way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
“If you’ve posted a job and you have 500 applicants, are you telling me not one or two or three are qualified?” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
The figures vary across the UK - with 48% of applicants in Scotland intending to live at home, compared with 20% in Wales - but the trend is rising across the board.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
“If I post a job, I’ll get 10,000 applicants, and 7,000 of them won’t realize they applied and won’t actually have any interest in the job,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Consequently, the household had been flooded with applicants.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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.
