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selection

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selection

  • /səˈlɛkʃən/

Rhymes with -ɛkʃən

Where it comes from

Learned borrowing from Latin sēlēctiō (“the act of choosing out, selection”), from sēligō (“choose out, select”), from sē- (“apart”) + legō (“gather, select”). Equivalent to select + -ion.

noun selections

  1. countable, uncountable The process or act of selecting. The large number of good candidates made selection difficult.
  2. countable, uncountable Something selected. My final selection was a 1934 Chateau Lafite.

    Similar: option

  3. countable, uncountable A variety of items taken from a larger collection. I've brought a selection of fine cheeses to go with your wine.

    Similar: subset

  4. countable, uncountable A musical piece. For my next selection, I'll play Happy Birthday in F-sharp minor.

    Similar: number, piece

  5. countable, uncountable A set of data obtained from a database using a query.
  6. countable, uncountable The ability of predicates to determine the semantic content of their arguments.
  7. countable, uncountable A list of items on which user operations will take place.
  8. countable, uncountable A unary operation that denotes a subset of a relation.
  9. countable, historical, uncountable The free selection before survey of crown land in some Australian colonies under land legislation introduced in the 1860s. Our selection adjoined a sheep-run on the Darling Downs, and boasted […] a forest of box-trees, a stock-yard, and six acres under barley[.]
  10. Australia, countable, historical, uncountable A plot of land, or farm, thus selected.
  11. countable, uncountable The stage of a genetic algorithm in which individual genomes are chosen from a population for later breeding.
  12. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of natural selection Slow though the process of selection may be, if feeble man can do much by his powers of artificial selection, I can see no limit to the amount of change, to the beauty and infinite complexity of the coadaptations between all organic beings, one with another and with their physical conditions of life

Similar: choice

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: choice, survival, extract, excerpt, pick, natural selection, selector, picked, selective, selected, chosen, select, elect, choose, option, selectivity

noun

Similar: choice

Translations

Every language

noun process or act of selecting

Españolselección
한국어선택 seontaek
日本語選択 sentaku
中文選擇 /选择 xuǎnzé
हिन्दीचुनना cunnā, चयन करना cayan karnā
Portuguêsseleção
Françaissélection
DeutschAnwahl, Auswahl, Wahl, Aufruf, Aussonderung
Italianoselezione
Românăselectare, selecție
Русскийвы́бор výbor, отбо́р otbór, селе́кция selékcija

noun something selected

Españolselección
हिन्दीचयन cayan, चयनित caynit
Portuguêsseleção
Françaissélection
DeutschAuslese, Auswahl, Markierung, Nominierung, Sichtung
Românăselecție
Русскийвы́бор výbor

noun variety of items taken from a larger collection

Portuguêsseleção
DeutschAuslese, Auswahl, Markierung, Nominierung, Sichtung
Românăselecție, culegere, alegere
Русскийвы́борка výborka, подбо́рка podbórka

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Cite this
MLA

"selection." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/selection. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

selection. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/selection

Chicago

"selection." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/selection.

BibTeX
@misc{selection_2026,
  title = {selection},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/selection},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}