adjective
Other Word Forms
- electorally adverb
- pseudoelectoral adjective
Etymology
Origin of electoral
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How does electoral compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
The adjective electoral describes anything having to do with elections. When people talk about "electoral reform," they're referring to changing the way political elections work. When you see the word electoral, you can be sure that the subject is politics and elections. An electoral district, for example, is a specific geographic area that elects a representative or has its votes counted separately, and electoral fraud means rigging votes or interfering with the process of an election. Electoral comes from the noun elector, or "voter in an election." In Latin, it means "chooser or selector," from the root eligere, "select."
Vocabulary lists containing electoral
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.
And history shows that fundraising prowess doesn’t necessarily translate to electoral success in November.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
This particular form of instability—in which electoral outcomes haven’t caught up with voters’ frustrations—has long plagued polities on the Continent, where proportional voting systems accelerate the fracturing of authority in parliaments.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
OTTAWA—Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has secured a majority government, cementing his hold on power after electoral victories Monday night and defections to his Liberal Party caucus over the past six months.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
The head of Benin's electoral commission, Sacca Lafia, said the election had passed off peacefully, although an electoral monitoring platform set up by civil society groups reported around one hundred incident "alerts".
From Barron's • Apr. 13, 2026
In October of 1795 Aaron Burr visited Monticello, presumably to discuss the delivery of New York’s electoral votes, probably as a condition for his own place on the ticket as vice president.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
