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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

nominate.

To name someone as a candidate for a particular role or position, including that of an office.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈnɒm.ɪ.neɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈnɒm.ə.neɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈnɑ.mɪ.neɪt/General-American, dialectal/ˈnɑ.mə.neɪt/General-American, dialectal
  1. To name someone as a candidate for a particular role or position, including that of an office.

  2. To specify in advance which pocket a ball will be potted in; to call; to name.

  3. To designate a peer (or oneself) as corresponding to a (potentially positive or negative) description.

  4. To entitle, confer a name upon.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

PIE word *h₁nómn̥ The adjective is first attested in 1450, in Middle English, the verb in 1545; partly from Middle English nominat(e) (“named, designated”), from Latin nōminātus, perfect passive participle of nōminō (“to name”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from nōmen (“a name”). Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

adj/ˈnɒm.ɪ.neɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈnɒm.ə.neɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈnɑ.mɪ.neɪt/General-American, dialectal/ˈnɑ.mə.neɪt/General-American, dialectal
  1. Named, called; nominated, appointed etc.

    not-comparable · obsolete
  2. Mentioned by name, noted.

    not-comparable · obsolete
  3. Nominated to an office.

    not-comparable · obsolete
    an executor nominate / a nominate executor
  4. Having a special name or mentioning a particular name.

    not-comparable · obsolete
  5. nominotypical

    not-comparable
    the nominate subspecies
Where this word comes from

PIE word *h₁nómn̥ The adjective is first attested in 1450, in Middle English, the verb in 1545; partly from Middle English nominat(e) (“named, designated”), from Latin nōminātus, perfect passive participle of nōminō (“to name”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from nōmen (“a name”). Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

noun/ˈnɒm.ɪ.neɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈnɒm.ə.neɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈnɑ.mɪ.neɪt/General-American, dialectal/ˈnɑ.mə.neɪt/General-American, dialectal
  1. A nominee.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

PIE word *h₁nómn̥ The adjective is first attested in 1450, in Middle English, the verb in 1545; partly from Middle English nominat(e) (“named, designated”), from Latin nōminātus, perfect passive participle of nōminō (“to name”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from nōmen (“a name”). Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.