selection

American  

[si-lek-shuhn] / sɪˈlɛk ʃən /

noun

1. an act or instance of selecting or the state of being selected; choice.

   Antonyms:

   rejection

2. a thing or a number of things selected.

   Synonyms:

   pick, gathering, collection

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Linguistics.

   1. 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.

   2. 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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selection British  

/ sɪˈlɛkʃən /

noun

1. the act or an instance of selecting or the state of being selected

2. a thing or number of things that have been selected

3. a range from which something may be selected

   this shop has a good selection of clothes

4. 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

5. a contestant in a race chosen as likely to win or come second or third

6. 1. the act of free-selecting

   2. a tract of land acquired by free-selection

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Other Word Forms

• nonselection noun
• reselection noun
• selectional adjective
• superselection noun

Etymology

Origin of selection

First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin sēlēctiōn-, stem of sēlēctiō; equivalent to select + -ion

Example Sentences

And don’t look for BritBox to be overly rigid in its selection process: “Bridget Jones’s Diary” becomes available May 1.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

"All of this combined, and the selection of data sets that we collect from different partnerships help us to really understand what's happening" including when ships "go dark", he added.

From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026

The party's sixth candidate, Owain Clatworthy, has left in protest at the selection process.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

If Tottenham stay in the Premier League they will go to the top of the list for Friday and Monday selection, given they have a large fan base and are viewed as a glamourous club.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026

Variation and natural selection offer cogent explanations of the mechanism by which evolution might occur within a species, but they do not explain the formation of species per se.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• choice
• collection
• draft
• election
• excerpt
• option
• pick