candidate

[kan-di-deyt, -dit, kan-di-deyt] / ˈkæn dɪˌdeɪt, -dɪt, ˈkæn dɪˌdeɪt /

NOUN

person desiring political office, job

Synonyms

STRONGEST

applicant aspirant bidder competitor contender contestant nominee successor

STRONG

claimant entrant hopeful petitioner possibility pothunter runner seeker stumper suitor write-in

WEAK

dark horse favorite son handshaker job-hunter office seeker possible choice solicitant whistle-stopper

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.

"This study allows us to see how people lived through change," says Eleftheria Orfanou, PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and lead author of the study.

From Science Daily • May 19, 2026

That means the opposition parties would need to agree on an alternative candidate to defeat Swinney, a highly unlikely prospect.

From BBC • May 19, 2026

But the candidate was not the main speaker.

From Slate • May 19, 2026

Zapatero had campaigned in favour of the party's candidate there, Sanchez's former deputy and ex-finance minister Maria Jesus Montero.

From Barron's • May 19, 2026

Victoria Woodhull wanted respect, both as a suffragist and as a candidate for president of the United States.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

Vocabulary lists containing candidate

Election Lingo

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Electoral Elocution: The Verbiage of Voting

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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 2

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