nomination
Americannoun
-
nominations
plural
-
an act or instance of nominating, especially to office.
The floor is open for nomination of candidates for the presidency.
-
the state of being nominated.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of nomination
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin nōminātiōn- (stem of nōminātiō ) a naming, nomination. See nominate, -ion
Explanation
The first step in the process of electing a candidate for office or giving someone an award is nomination. When someone is officially recommended as a contender, that's their nomination. Your nomination for Best Animated Film in a film festival means that you're one of the directors who will be up for the award. A nomination is a huge honor in itself, because it means you've been chosen to be on a short list of possible winners. During presidential elections, major party nominations are usually made after a primary election — the party's nomination is its official endorsement of a candidate. The Latin root, nominationem, means "a naming."
Vocabulary lists containing nomination
Election Lingo
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Academy Awards, List 1
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Citizenship (Civics) - Middle School
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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:
Cooke first ran for Congress in 2022, losing the Democratic nomination to state Sen. Brad Pfaff.
From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2026
Vance -- who is widely considered to be the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028 -- was named by Trump to head an anti-fraud task force earlier this year.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Sarah Olney, MP for Richmond Park, and Rob Blackie, who ran in 2024, are both candidates for the Lib Dem nomination.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
A McKenna nomination to the Kroger board isn’t moving forward, according to people familiar with the situation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Democratic Party’s nomination for president of the United States in 2016.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
His last two movies, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” earned best picture nominations and a combined 16 nods.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
If so, it’d be quite the capper to a career that has netted him seven Oscar nominations, five for his screenplays and two for direction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
A panel of wildlife experts drew up a shortlist of 18 mammals, birds, amphibians insects and fish which were put forward to public nominations.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Since its 2020 release, “Promising Young Woman” has become a lightning rod for heated conversation — quite a far cry from its initially warm reception, which led to five Oscar nominations and one win.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
The Englishman called for nominations from the floor, and there weren’t any.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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.
