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choose

verb
\ ˈchĂŒz How to pronounce choose (audio) \
chose\ ˈchƍz How to pronounce chose (audio) \; chosen\ ˈchƍ-​zᔊn How to pronounce chosen (audio) \; choosing\ ˈchĂŒ-​ziƋ How to pronounce choosing (audio) \

Definition of choose

transitive verb

1a : to select freely and after consideration choose a career
b : to decide on especially by vote : elect chose her as captain
2a : to have a preference for choose one car over another
b : decide chose to go by train

intransitive verb

1 : to make a selection finding it hard to choose
2 : to take an alternative —used after cannot and usually followed by but when earth is so kind, men cannot choose but be happy— J. A. Froude
Other Words from choose Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about choose

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Other Words from choose

chooser \ ˈchĂŒ-​zər How to pronounce chooser (audio) \ noun

Choose the Right Synonym for choose

choose, elect, and select mean to decide upon one possibility from among several. choose is used for making a decision after careful thought. She chose to follow the right course. elect may be used for the deliberate picking of one thing over another. Voters elect one candidate for president. select is used when there are many things from which to choose. Customers may select from a variety of goods.

Examples of choose in a Sentence

Each year thousands of college students choose volunteer-service trips over beach bumming during their spring breaks and summer vacations. — Edward M. Kennedy, Time, 22 Sept. 2008 I had been invited to choose certain things that I might want from the house, but although there were indeed a couple of things that I would have liked, I was withheld from making the trip 
 — Alice Adams, "Why I Write," in The Story and Its Writer, edited by Ann Charters,  1987 
 as an instructor at New York University he chose to live by himself in lodgings that for the time must have been very expensive 
 — William Styron, This Quiet Dust and Other Writings, (l953) 1982 Any summary I might try to write for the rest of the novel would be worthless and I don't choose to waste my time at it. — Flannery O'Connor, The Habit of Being, 1979 The political party chose a leader. They chose her as the team captain. We've chosen a different time to go. He was chosen because he's qualified for the job. She was chosen from a long list of people. He chose his words carefully. Which shirt would you choose? How do I choose when there's so much available? Let everyone choose for themselves. You can choose from among a number of alternatives.
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Recent Examples on the Web

 The department also chose projects that were already facing delays. — Washington Post, "Pentagon takes money from Puerto Rico, European projects to fund Trump’s wall," 6 Sep. 2019 On the Block For about the median price of a single-family home in the state, choose between Capes in Abington and Canton. — Jon Gorey, BostonGlobe.com, "For sale: What $450,000 buys you south of Boston," 6 Sep. 2019 Whenever a home goes on the market, the owner chooses how much to pay both the selling and buying agents - usually around six percent commission, split between the two. — R.a. Schuetz, Houston Chronicle, "Real estate upstarts begin to lift the curtain on brokerage commissions," 6 Sep. 2019 Nikias chose Swann, a decision that left many in collegiate sports slack-jawed. — Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times, "This secret donor has given USC $400 million," 5 Sep. 2019 Ultimately, six were chosen for 12-week internships with managers who had received their own training in how to work with adults with autism. — Ben Casselman, New York Times, "In a Tight Labor Market, a Disability May Not Be a Barrier," 5 Sep. 2019 Presented with a choice between Clemson and North Carolina A&T, most high-school athletes would choose Clemson—whose starting lineup, not incidentally, is majority black. — Jemele Hill, The Atlantic, "It’s Time for Black Athletes to Leave White Colleges," 5 Sep. 2019 Others do not remember, or choose to forget, the failure of that gambit. — Ted Scheinman, The New Republic, "The Historical Amnesia of Joe Biden’s Candidacy," 5 Sep. 2019 Businessman Dan Gilbert's Bedrock real estate firm has chosen a New York architecture office called ODA to transform the interior spaces of the historic Book Tower on Washington Boulevard in downtown Detroit. — John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press, "Bedrock hires architect for Book restoration, hosts public tour Saturday," 4 Sep. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'choose.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of choose

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

History and Etymology for choose

Middle English chosen, from Old English cēosan; akin to Old High German kiosan to choose, Latin gustare to taste

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More Definitions for choose

choose

verb
How to pronounce choose (audio)

English Language Learners Definition of choose

: to decide that a particular person or thing is the one that you want
: to make a choice about what to do

See the full definition for choose in the English Language Learners Dictionary

choose

verb
\ ˈchĂŒz How to pronounce choose (audio) \
chose\ ˈchƍz \; chosen\ ˈchƍ-​zᔊn \; choosing

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