candidate

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: can=di=date

CIDE DICTIONARY

candidate, n. [L. Candidatus, n. (because candidates for office in Rome were clothed in a white toga.) fr. candidatus clothed in white, fr. candiduslittering, white: cf. F. candidat.].

 One who offers himself, or is put forward by others, as a suitable person or an aspirant or contestant for an office, privilege, or honor; as, a candidate for the office of governor; a candidate for holy orders; a candidate for scholastic honors.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

candidate, n.
1 a person who seeks or is nominated for an office, award, etc.
2 a person or thing likely to gain some distinction or position.
3 a person entered for an examination.

Derivative

candidacy n. candidature n. Brit.

Etymology

F candidat or L candidatus white-robed (Roman candidates wearing white)

THESAURUS

candidate

addict, agent, also-ran, applicant, appointee, aspirant, aspirer, assignee, baby kisser, bidder, campaigner, claimant, collector, coveter, dark horse, defeated candidate, deputy, desirer, devotee, dud, entrant, fancier, favorite son, freak, hankerer, has-been, hopeful, lame duck, licensee, lover, nominee, office seeker, petitioner, political hopeful, possibility, postulant, presidential timber, prospect, runner, running mate, seeker, selectee, solicitant, solicitor, stalking-horse, stumper, suitor, suppliant, supplicant, votary, wanter, whistle-stopper, wisher, yearner

ROGET THESAURUS

candidate

Politics

N politics, political science, candidacy, campaign, campaigning, electioneering, partisanship, ideology, factionalism, election, poll, ballot, vote, referendum, recall, initiative, voice, suffrage, plumper, cumulative vote, plebiscitum, plebiscite, vox populi, electioneering, voting, elective franchise, straight ticket, opinion poll, popularity poll, issue, opinion, stand, position, program, platform, party line, democracy, republicanism, communism, statism, state socialism, socialism, conservatism, toryism, liberalism, whigism, theocracy, constitutional monarchy, party, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Socialist Party, Communist Party, Federalist Party, Bull Moose Party, Abolitionist Party, Christian Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, National Socialist Worker's Party, Nazi Party, Liberal Party, Labor Party, Conservative Party, ticket, slate, politician activist, candidate, aspirant, hopeful, office-seeker, front- runner, dark horse, long shot, shoo-in, supporter, backer, political worker, campaign worker, lobbyist, contributor, party hack, ward heeler, regional candidate, favorite son, running mate, stalking horse, perpetual candidate, political animal, political contribution, campaign contribution, political action committee, PAC, political district, electoral division, electoral district, bailiwick, electorate, constituents, get-out-the-vote campaign, political education, negative campaigning, dirty politics, smear campaign, also-ran, loser, has-been, office holder, official, occupant of a position, public servant, incumbent, winner, political, partisan, Money is the mother's milk of politics.

Petitioner

N petitioner, solicitor, applicant, suppliant, supplicant, suitor, candidate, claimant, postulant, aspirant, competitor, bidder, place hunter, pot hunter, prizer, seeker, beggar, mendicant, moocher, panhandler, freeloader, sponger, mumper, sturdy beggar, cadger, hotel runner, runner, steerer, tout, touter, pauper, homeless person, hobo, bum, tramp, bindle stiff, bo, knight of the road (poverty), hippie, flower child, hard core unemployed, welfare client, welfare case, canvasser, bagman, salesman.

Desire

N desire, wish, fancy, fantasy, want, need, exigency, mind, inclination, leaning, bent, animus, partiality, penchant, predilection, propensity, willingness, liking, love, fondness, relish, longing, hankering, inkling, solicitude, anxiety, yearning, coveting, aspiration, ambition, vaulting ambition, eagerness, zeal, ardor, empressement, breathless impatience, overanxiety, impetuosity, appetite, appetition, appetence, appetency, sharp appetite, keenness, hunger, stomach, twist, thirst, thirstiness, drouth, mouthwatering, itch, itching, prurience, cacoethes, cupidity, lust, concupiscence, edge of appetite, edge of hunger, torment of Tantalus, sweet tooth, lickerish tooth, itching palm, longing eye, wistful eye, sheep's eye, greed, voracity, passion, rage, furore, mania, manie, inextinguishable desire, dipsomania, kleptomania, lover, amateur, votary, devotee, aspirant, solicitant, candidate, applicant, supplicant, cormorant, desideratum, want, a consummation devoutly to be wished, attraction, magnet, allurement, fancy, temptation, seduction, fascination, prestige, height of one's ambition, idol, whim, whimsy, whimsey, maggot, hobby, hobby-horse, Fortunatus's cap, wishing cap, wishing stone, wishing well, desirous, desiring, inclined, partial to, fain, wishful, optative, anxious, wistful, curious, at a loss for, sedulous, solicitous, craving, hungry, sharp-set, peckish, ravening, with an empty stomach, esurient, lickerish, thirsty, athirst, parched with thirst, pinched with hunger, famished, dry, drouthy, hungry as a hunter, hungry as a hawk, hungry as a horse, hungry as a church mouse, hungry as a bear, greedy, unsatisfied, unsated, unslaked, unsaturated, eager, avid, keen, burning, fervent, ardent, agog, all agog, breathless, impatient, bent on, intent on, set on, bent upon, intent upon, set upon, mad after, enrage, rabid, dying for, devoured by desire, aspiring, ambitious, vaulting, skyaspiring, high-reaching, desirable, desired, in demand, pleasing, appetizing, appetible, tantalizing, wistfully, fain, Int, would that, would that it were!, O for!, esto perpetual, the wish being father to the thought, sua cuique voluptas, hoc erat in votis, the mouth watering, the fingers itching, aut Caesar aut nullus, Cassius has a lean and hungry look, hungry as the grave, I was born to other things, not what we wish but what we want, such joy ambition finds, the sea hath bounds but deep desire hath none, ubi mel ibi apes.