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:
In line for selection was Basil D'Oliveira, a mixed-race all-rounder born in South Africa, who had emigrated to and qualified to play for England.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
Tightly curated presentations at the major New York art fair offered flashes of creativity amid an overall selection that was underwhelming.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Japanese cooks are working with a brand-new selection of seafood, since El Nino has altered ocean migratory routes.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Should they have won the game, USC would have had a reasonable argument to the CFP selection committee to make the 12-team field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
It seemed the entire chorus of The Nutcracker would hum a selection of Viennese waltzes and quadrilles and gallops.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
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
Enzo Maresca might have been expected to keep his head down and not make any curious team selections in his first Premier League game in-charge of Manchester City.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
Brooks is letting the selections speak for themselves, offering up the movies he loved without feeling the need to make a case for them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Sides are, according to Libby, selections given to actors at an audition so they don’t have to read the whole script.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
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.
