select
Americanverb (used with object)
-
selects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
selected,
past participle, past
-
selecting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
selects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
selected,
past participle, past
-
selecting
present participle
adjective
-
chosen in preference to another or others; selected.
-
of special value or excellence; choice.
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careful or fastidious in selecting; discriminating.
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carefully or fastidiously chosen; exclusive.
a select group of friends.
verb
adjective
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Also: selected. chosen in preference to another or others
-
of particular quality or excellence
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limited as to membership or entry
a select gathering
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careful in making a choice
Synonym Usage
See choose.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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selectabilitynoun
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selectnessnoun
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selectornoun
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reselectverb (used with object)
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nonselectedadjective
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selectableadjective
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unselectadjective
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unselectedadjective
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well-selectedadjective
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selectlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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selectsimple
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selectssimple
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have selectedperfect
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has selectedperfect
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am selectingprogressive
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are selectingprogressive
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is selectingprogressive
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have been selectingperfect progressive
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has been selectingperfect progressive
Past
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selectedsimple
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had selectedperfect
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was selectingprogressive
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were selectingprogressive
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had been selectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of select
First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin sēlēctus (past participle of sēligere “to gather apart”), equivalent to sē- “apart” + leg(ere) “to gather, choose” + -tus past participle suffix; cf. lection ( def. ), se-
Explanation
To select something means to choose it from among others. If you select the most expensive phone, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will be happy with what you get. You can use select as an adjective as well as a verb. It means "specially chosen" or "of superior quality." For instance, you might be one of the select few who know how to really appreciate a game of Tetris, or you might want to choose a wine from a select list of Spanish reds. All of this assumes that if you select one thing, you feel that it's better than all the other choices.
Vocabulary lists containing select
Academic Vocabulary Toolkit 1, Words 81-90
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Essential English Vocabulary, List 6
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"Charlotte's Web": Chapter One
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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:
Democrats in both the House and the Senate on Tuesday discussed establishing select committees on artificial intelligence.
From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2026
Macy’s, for instance, has been adding more staff to select stores and has noticed an uplift in sales partly as a result.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
I never collect one specific brand or designer because I select clothes based on how a piece makes me feel in the moment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Top operators can earn up to 300,000 euros a year, while a select handful of the big lobbying stars in Brussels are believed to take home around one million euros annually.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
That was the golden ticket, because Martha Karolyi would select the next artistic gymnastics women’s senior and junior national teams based on the results at Nationals.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
The vaccine analyzes a patient’s tumor, selects up to 34 mutations as targets and trains the immune system to recognize them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Gruel selects seafood, one of what he calls the country’s “bounty items,” and announces that they will make salmon cakes.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
Should Airbus opt for this type of engine while Boeing selects a more conventional architecture, CFM believes it can cater for both giants of the air.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
The presiding officer chairs debates in the chamber, selects speakers in debates and represents the parliament at home and abroad.
From BBC ● May 14, 2026
He sniffs the pile over, selects a choice bit of bone with meat dangling off, and begins gnawing away.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
That leaves Warsh facing the fight Trump hoped he would avoid when he selected the new chairman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
It was 1964 and she had been selected by teachers at her east London primary school to appear in a documentary called 7 Up.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
The project is part of a small group of translational research efforts selected each year.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026
"NAZA" was a late addition to the top competition this year in Venice, where organisers have selected several films about the Gaza conflict.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
It would be a grueling task, so they selected workers who they thought were strong enough to complete it successfully and divided them into teams of three.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
They compared imported varieties for such traits as maturity, yield, plant form and suitability for seed or hay, selecting strains that showed promise for cultivation in the United States.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
Here is how you can compare the yields of corporate bonds, municipal bonds and Treasury bonds if you want to factor in your particular tax situation when selecting investments for income.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
The succession panel said it had carried out "due diligence, consultation and adequate consideration" before selecting Kijanangoma, with 19 members signing the resolution.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
She has a playbook for selecting jurors in cases involving large companies that makes a case simple and emotional.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Lord Godalming smiled, and the man lifted a good-sized bunch of keys; selecting one of them, he began to probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
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.
