BALLOT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ballot mean? 

• BALLOT (noun)
  The noun BALLOT has 2 senses:

1. a document listing the alternatives that is used in voting

2. a choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative

  Familiarity information: BALLOT used as a noun is rare.

• BALLOT (verb)
  The verb BALLOT has 1 sense:

1. vote by ballot

  Familiarity information: BALLOT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BALLOT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A document listing the alternatives that is used in voting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("ballot" is a kind of...):

document; papers; written document (writing that provides information (especially information of an official nature))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ballot"):

absentee ballot ((election) a ballot that is cast while absent (usually mailed in prior to election day))

Derivation:

ballot (vote by ballot)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

ballot; balloting; vote; voting

Context example:

they allowed just one vote per person

Hypernyms ("ballot" is a kind of...):

choice; option; pick; selection (the act of choosing or selecting)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ballot"):

block vote (a vote proportional in magnitude to the number of people that a delegate represents)

secret ballot (a vote in which each person's choice is secret but the totaled votes are public)

split ticket (a ballot cast by a voter who votes for candidates from more than one party)

straight ticket (a ballot cast by a voter who votes for all the candidates of one party)

multiple voting (the act of voting in more than one place by the same person at the same election (illegal in U.S.))

casting vote (the deciding vote cast by the presiding officer to resolve a tie)

veto (a vote that blocks a decision)

write-in (a vote cast by writing in the name of a candidate who is not listed on the ballot)

Derivation:

ballot (vote by ballot)

• BALLOT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ballot    ... he / she / it ballots   
Past simple: balloted   
Past participle: balloted   
-ing form: balloting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Vote by ballot

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

The voters were balloting in this state

Hypernyms (to "ballot" is one way to...):

vote (express one's preference for a candidate or for a measure or resolution; cast a vote)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

ballot (a choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative)

ballot (a document listing the alternatives that is used in voting)

 Context examples 

The ballots had been thrown; they were all black, and Justine was condemned.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

They are indeed perfect enough in their exercises, and under very good discipline, wherein I saw no great merit; for how should it be otherwise, where every farmer is under the command of his own landlord, and every citizen under that of the principal men in his own city, chosen after the manner of Venice, by ballot?

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)