select

See also: Select and sélect

English

Etymology

From Latin sēlēctus, perfect passive participle of sēligō (“choose out, select”), from sē- (“without; apart”) + legō (“gather, select”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɪˈlɛkt/, /səˈlɛkt/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛkt
Hyphenation: se‧lect

Adjective

select (comparative more select, superlative most select)

Privileged, specially selected.
Only a select few were allowed into the premiere.

The child was upset when he was cut from select soccer and had to play on his school team with the rest of the plebes.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XX, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
  A few select spirits had separated from the crowd, and formed a fit audience round a far greater teacher.
- 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
  At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
Of high quality; top-notch.
This is a select cut of beef.
- 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter VII, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC:
  The two sisters at once called on Mrs. Bolton, in a newish house in a row, quite select for Tevershall.

Translations

privileged, specially selected

Bulgarian: избран (bg) (izbran), подбран (bg) (podbran)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 特定 (zh) (tèdìng)
Dutch: select (nl)
French: sélect (fr)
Greek:
Ancient Greek: ἐκλεκτός (eklektós)
Hungarian: válogatott (hu), kiválogatott (hu), gondosan összeválogatott, kiszemelt (hu), kiválasztott (hu)
Indonesian: tertentu (id)
Latin: ēlectus
Portuguese: seleto (pt), selecionado (pt)
Slovak: vyvolený

of high quality; top-notch

Bulgarian: висококачествен (bg) (visokokačestven)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 精选 (zh) (jīng xuǎn)
Hungarian: kitűnő (hu), kiváló (hu), exkluzív (hu), választékos (hu), finom (hu), előkelő (hu), válogatott (hu)
Indonesian: pilihan (id)
Portuguese: seleto (pt)
Russian: отбо́рный (ru) (otbórnyj)
Slovak: vyberaný
Spanish: selecto (es), cogollo (es) m (noun)

Verb

select (third-person singular simple present selects, present participle selecting, simple past and past participle selected)

To choose one or more elements of a set, especially a set of options.
He looked over the menu, and selected the roast beef.

The program computes all the students' grades, then selects a random sample for human verification.
(databases) To obtain a set of data from a database using a query.

Conjugation

Conjugation of *select*
	present tense	past tense
infinitive	(to) select

1st-person singular	select	selected
2nd-person singular	select, selectest^†	selected, selectedst^†
3rd-person singular	selects, selecteth^†	selected
plural	select	selected

subjunctive	select	selected

imperative	select	—

participles	selecting	selected

^† Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

(to choose): choose, opt

Antonyms

deselect

Related terms

Translations

to choose one or more elements from a set

Altai:
Southern Altai: сайлаар (saylaar)
Arabic: اِخْتَارَ (iḵtāra)
Egyptian Arabic: اختار (iḵtār)
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Bashkir: һайлау (haylaw)/һайҙау (hayźaw)
Basque: aukeratu, hautatu
Bulgarian: избирам (bg) (izbiram)
Catalan: seleccionar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 選 / 选 (zh) (xuǎn), 挑選 / 挑选 (zh) (tiāoxuǎn), 選拔 / 选拔 (zh) (xuǎnbá)
Choctaw: atokoli
Czech: vybrat (cs)
Dutch: uitkiezen (nl), selecteer (nl)
Egyptian:

(stp)
Esperanto: elekti, selekti
Estonian: valima
Evenki: синма- (sinma-)
Finnish: valita (fi)
French: choisir (fr), sélectionner (fr)
Galician: escolmar (gl), escoller (gl), seleccionar
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: auswählen (de)
Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waljan)
Greek: επιλέγω (el) (epilégo)
Ancient Greek: αἱρέομαι (hairéomai), ἐκλέγω (eklégō)
Haitian Creole: chwazi
Hebrew: בחר (he) (bakhár)
Higaonon: namili
Hindi: चुनना (hi) (cunnā), चयन करना (cayan karnā)
Hungarian: kiválaszt (hu), (creating a member out of someone, in preference to other candidates) beválogat (hu)
Ido: selektar (io)
Indonesian: memilih (id), pilih (id)
Irish: togh
Italian: scegliere (it), selezionare (it)
Japanese: 選ぶ (ja) (えらぶ, erabu)
Khmer: ជ្រើស (km) (crəəh), រើស (km) (rəəh), ជ្រើសរើស (crəəh rəəh), ចម្រាញ់ (km) (cɑmraɲ)
Korean: 고르다 (ko) (goreuda)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ھەڵبژاردن (ckb) (hellbjardin)

Northern Kurdish: hilbijartin (ku)
Lao: please add this translation if you can
Latin: legō (la), sēligō, dēligō, optō
Luxembourgish: auswielen
Macedonian: избира (izbira)
Māori: whiri, tīpako (in computing)
Marathi: निवडणे (mr) (nivaḍṇe)
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Nepali: छान्नु (chānnu)
Old English: ceosan
Polish: wybierać (pl) impf, wybrać (pl) pf, selekcjonować (pl) impf
Portuguese: escolher (pt), selecionar (pt), optar por, seletar (pt)
Quechua: akllay, chihlluy
Romansh: selecziunar
Russian: отбира́ть (ru) (otbirátʹ)
Sanskrit: वृणोति (sa) (vṛṇoti)
Scottish Gaelic: tagh
Serbo-Croatian:
Latin: izabrati (sh), izbrati
Slovak: vybrať, vyberať, vybrať si, vyberať si
Somali: xulid
Spanish: seleccionar (es), cribar (es) (rigorous)
Swedish: välja (sv), välja ut, utvälja (sv)
Telugu: ఎంచు (te) (eñcu), ఎంచుకొను (te) (eñcukonu)
Thai: คัดเลือก (th)
Turkish:
Ottoman Turkish: بگنمك (beğenmek)
Vietnamese: lựa (vi)
Volapük: sesukön (vo)
Welsh: dewis (cy), dethol (cy)

to obtain a set of data

Chinese:
Mandarin: 选取 (zh) (xuǎnqǔ)
Māori: tīpako
Slovak: vyselektovať, selektovať

Derived terms

Anagrams

celest, elects, scelet

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French select.

Adjective

select m or n (feminine singular selectă, masculine plural selecți, feminine/neuter plural selecte)

select

Declension

Declension of *select*
		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	select		selectă	selecți	selecte
nominative- accusative	definite	selectul		selecta	selecții	selectele
genitive- dative	indefinite	select		selecte	selecți	selecte
genitive- dative	definite	selectului		selectei	selecților	selectelor