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.
-
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
-
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
-
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
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
It took the returning player programme, a special arrangement offered to a select few, to make it possible for Koepka to go back to the US circuit earlier this year.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
Darwin had reasoned that evolution works via natural selection—but for natural selection to work, there had to be something natural to select.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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
María selects some music from an old jukebox in the corner while my mom and Charlie take seats on one of the high tables in the middle of the room.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
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
The Grand Slams and players are now working out how the council will be selected and structured, with further details expected soon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Mendel’s gift was experimentation—the manipulation of organisms, cross-fertilization of carefully selected sub-breeds, the testing of hypotheses.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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
Their goal was selecting the right problems to work on, like the mathematicians who chose the Millennium Prize Problems.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
The lane draft: Athletes contesting the 200m will take part in a lane draft, selecting their preferred semi-final heat and lane in world rankings order.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
When selecting individual stocks, some investors look for quality and lower risk, while others want to scoop up shares of companies that have fallen on hard times, hoping to ride a rebound.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Rick broke off, the conduits of his brain humming, calculating, and selecting; he altered what he had started to say. “—would detect it,” he finished.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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.
