vote

UK/vəʊt//voʊt/

vote noun: a formalized choice on legally relevant measures such as employment or appointment to office or a proceeding about a legal dispute.

Image: Hosein Zohrevand, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

vote (plural votes)

A formalized choice on legally relevant measures such as employment or appointment to office or a proceeding about a legal dispute.
- The city council decided the matter should go to public vote.
- Parliament will hold a vote of confidence regarding the minister.
An act or instance of participating in such a choice, e.g., by submitting a ballot.
- The Supreme Court upheld the principle of one person, one vote.
- There breathes no being but has some pretence / To that fine instinct called poetic sense; […] / The freeman, casting with unpurchased hand / The vote that shakes the turrets of the land.1862 [1836], Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., “Poetry: A Metrical Essay”, in The Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Boston, Mass.:: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, pages 7–8
(obsolete) An ardent wish or desire; a vow; a prayer.
- Jol[ante]. In you, Sir, / I live; and when, or by the Courſe of Nature, / Or Violence you muſt fall, the End of my / Devotions is, that one and the ſame Hour / May make us fit for Heaven. // Server. I join with you / In my votes that way: […]1633, Philip Massinger, “The Guardian”, in Three New Playes; viz. The Bashful Lover, The Guardian, The Very Woman. As They have been Often Acted at the Private-House in Black-Friers, by His Late...
(obsolete) A formalized petition or request.
(obsolete) Any judgment of intellect leading to a formal opinion, a point of view.
Any judgment of intellect leading not only to a formal opinion but also to a particular choice in a legally relevant measure, a point of view as published.
- dissenting vote (i.e. in particular the differing opinion published with a judicial judgment considered as a source of information)

Verb

vote (third-person singular simple present votes, present participle voting, simple past and past participle voted)

(intransitive) To cast a vote; to assert a formalized choice in an election.
- Q: Did you vote last month? A: Yes. I voted for John Smith, and it's a shame that he lost; you can't blame me for the mess we're in now.
- The directors voted on the question of whether to increase the R&D spending.
(transitive) To choose or grant (some objective) by means of a vote, or by general consent.
- The directors voted an increase in R&D spending.
- The meal was voted a great success.
(transitive) To exercise one's voting right upon (a ballot or a share of stock).
- vote your ballot
- vote your shares

Noun (2) capitalized: Vote

Vote (plural Votes)

A person from Votia or of Votic descent.

Synonyms:

Votian

vote meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

vote in Hindi

formalised choice: वोट voṭ
assert a formalised choice: वोट देना voṭ denā

vote in Tamil

formalised choice: ஓட்டு ōṭṭu, வாக்கு vākku
assert a formalised choice: ஓட்டு போடு ōṭṭu pōṭu, வாக்களி vākkaḷi

vote in Marathi

vote: मत mat

vote in Urdu

formalised choice: ووٹ voṭ, رائے rāe

More languagesFewer languages

vote in Bengali: ভোট bhōṭ
vote in Telugu: వోటు vōṭu
vote in Malayalam: വോട്ട് vōṭṭŭ
vote in Kannada: ಮತದಾನ matadāna
vote in Punjabi: ਮੱਤ matta
vote in Gujarati: મત mat
vote in Odia: ଭୋଟ ଦିଅନ୍ତୁ, ଭୋଟ୍ ଦିଅନ୍ତୁ
vote in Assamese: ভোট bhüt
vote in Nepali: मतदान, मतदान गर्नुहोस्, भोट दिनुहोस्
vote in Pashto: رايه rāya
vote in Tagalog: boto, bumoto
vote in Arabic: صَوْت ṣawt, تَصْوِيت taṣwīt, اِقْتِرَاع iqtirāʕ, صَوَّتَ ṣawwata
vote in Malay: undian, mengundi
vote in Indonesian: pemungutan suara, suara
vote in Persian: رأی دادن ra'y dâdan
vote in Thai: เสียง sǐiang, การเลือกตั้ง gaan-lʉ̂ʉak-dtâng, โหวต wòot, เลือกตั้ง lʉ̂ʉak-dtâng
vote in Vietnamese: lá phiếu, phiếu bầu, bỏ phiếu, đầu phiếu
vote in Myanmar: မဲ mai:, မဲဆန္ဒ mai:hcanda., မဲပေး mai:pe:, ရွေးကောက် rwe:kauk

Examples of vote in a sentence

One occasion indicative votes were used was in 2003 when MPs were presented with seven different options on how to reform the House of Lords.
Please vote your ballot using black or blue ink, then seal your ballot inside the privacy envelope.
The depository may vote shares on behalf of investors who have not submitted instruction to the bank.
Friday’s vote has permanently redefined the kilogram and sent Le Grand K into retirement.2018 November 13, Matthew Robinson and Lianne Kolirin, “The world has just redefined the kilogram”, in CNN:
My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get.1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC, page...
It is important to ensure that shareholders who engage with an investee company by voting know whether their votes have been correctly taken into account.Directive (EU) 2017/828 amending Directive 2007/36/EC, recital 10

All 40 example sentences with vote

Synonyms of vote

Votian

Forms of vote

Noun
plural	votes
plural	Votes
alternative form	Vod
alternative form	Vot
Verb
third-person singular present	votes
present participle	voting
past participle	voted
past	voted
second-person singular present (archaic)	votest
second-person singular past (archaic)	votedst
third-person singular present (archaic)	voteth

Past tense of vote: voted

Plural of vote: votes

Origin of vote

From Latin vōtum, a form of voveō (“to vow”) (cognate with Ancient Greek εὔχομαι (eúkhomai, “to vow”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wegʷʰ- (“to promise, to vow”). Doublet of vow.

From German Wote, ultimately from Votic vadʹdʹa, vadʹdʹalain (“Votian”). Compare Estonian vadjalane.

Phrases with vote

24 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with vote

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about vote

What does vote mean?: Vote means a formalized choice on legally relevant measures such as employment or appointment to office or a proceeding about a legal dispute.
What is vote in Hindi?: Vote in Hindi is वोट (voṭ), वोट देना (voṭ denā). See Vote meaning in Hindi.
How do you use vote in a sentence?: One occasion indicative votes were used was in 2003 when MPs were presented with seven different options on how to reform the House of Lords.
What part of speech is vote?: Vote can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce vote?: Vote is pronounced /vəʊt/ (UK).
What is the plural of vote?: The plural of vote is votes.

Words near vote in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: vote (page history and authors); Vote (page history and authors); मत (Marathi) (page history and authors); വോട്ട് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ਮੱਤ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); મત (Gujarati) (page history and authors); vote (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vote (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-vote.ogg.

Cite this entry: “vote.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vote. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.