selection
Americannoun
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selections
plural
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an act or instance of selecting or the state of being selected; choice.
- Antonyms:
- rejection
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a thing or a number of things selected.
- Synonyms:
- pick, gathering, collection
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an aggregate of things displayed for choice, purchase, use, etc.; a group from which a choice may be made.
The store had a wide selection of bracelets.
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Biology. any natural or artificial process that results in differential reproduction among the members of a population so that the inheritable traits of only certain individuals are passed on, or are passed on in greater proportion, to succeeding generations.
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Linguistics.
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the choice of one form instead of another in a position where either can occur, as of ask instead of tell or with in the phrase ask me.
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the choice of one semantic or syntactic class of words in a construction, to the exclusion of others that do not occur there, as the choice of an animate object for the verb surprise.
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noun
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the act or an instance of selecting or the state of being selected
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a thing or number of things that have been selected
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a range from which something may be selected
this shop has a good selection of clothes
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biology the natural or artificial process by which certain organisms or characters are reproduced and perpetuated in the species in preference to others See also natural selection
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a contestant in a race chosen as likely to win or come second or third
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the act of free-selecting
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a tract of land acquired by free-selection
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of selection
First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin sēlēctiōn-, stem of sēlēctiō; equivalent to select + -ion
Explanation
Selection is all about choosing. Think about a salad bar: you can make a selection from among several choices, with croutons always being a popular selection. Inside selection is the word select, "to choose." Selection means the act of choosing, the thing chosen, or the offerings to be chosen from among. Selection can also mean a passage excerpted (or selected) from a longer text. Church services often involve reading a day's selection from the Bible.
Vocabulary lists containing selection
PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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Word Generation Science - Life Science
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Academic Vocabulary Toolkit 1, Words 81-90
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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:
After two 6-10 seasons, the Saints traded all of their draft picks — plus a first-round selection in 2000 — to move up and select running back Ricky Williams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Prediction market Kalshi has launched an investigation into a series of suspicious trades on their platform about the selection of President Trump’s new White House press secretary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The agent sent her a link to approve its selection.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
A Welsh actress named in a prestigious line-up that has previously featured the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch and Florence Pugh says the selection was "so unexpected" that she forgot she applied.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Compare: Does the Music Therapy selection on the Mood/Relaxed channel on Spotify create the same physical reaction as any of the classical adagio selections suggested above?
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
"I understand why there has been debate but I am not going to sit here and get into selections."
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Retailers are narrowing their product selections to cut costs and simplify supply chains amid higher import, transportation and storage costs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
AI answered correctly, saying that complaints are not publicly published but that there are Medicare star ratings that can be helpful in making selections.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
And to do it, they’re clipping some flabbergasting selections from their media libraries and pumping them out into vertical videos.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
The storekeeper stood beside her while she made all these selections, watching her carefully.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
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.
