- choose
- choose, select, elect, opt, pick, cull, prefer, single are comparable when they mean to fix upon one of a number of things as the one to be taken, accepted, or adopted or to make such a determination. Choose commonly implies both an act of judgment and the actual taking or adoption of what is fixed upon{
that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good— Isa 7:15
}{between them ... we can see little to choose— Henry Adams
}{the disinterested search for truth is certainly one of the highest and noblest careers that a man can choose— Inge
}Select usually implies a wide range of choice and discrimination or discernment of values in making one's choice{one particular nation to select from all the rest— Milton
}{the difficult task of selecting a presidential candidate— H. D. Jordan
}{his temperament was selecting the instances he should narrate, his mind selecting the words to employ— F. M. Ford
}Elect often implies a deliberate choice, especially between alternatives, or a careful selection of some out of many possibilities; ordinarily, it carries a stronger implication of the rejection of that not chosen than either of the preceding words{elect a president
}{according to the doctrine of predestination, God elects those who are to be saved
}{will it not look a little odd . . . when you have so many devoted children, that you should elect to live alone— Sackville-West
}{having elected deliberately . . . that stern land and weather— Faulkner
}Opt (often with for)implies an election between alternatives{give the people an opportunity to opt for statehood— Rupert Emerson
}often specifically, in the case of inhabitants of territory transferred by treaty, between retaining one's former citizenship or acquiring citizenship in the new state{opt to remain a British subject
}Pick implies a careful selection, often on personal grounds; cull, a nice or fastidious choice{attempts to pick an exact synonym— Johnson O'Connor
}{pick an all-star team from the players in the city
}{pick a winner
}{his dictionary had no vulgar word in it, no harsh one, but all culled from the luckiest moods of poets— J. R. Lowell
}Prefer implies choice that indicates what one favors or desires; it does not, however, always carry an implication of taking or adopting what one chooses or of getting one's choice{prefer the blue dress to the brown one
}{certain colors were preferred ... for reasons of association and tradition— Binyon
}{experience has taught me, when the versions of the same story . . . differ materially, to prefer the less exciting— Davis
}Single (usually with out) implies choice or election usually of an individual person or thing from a number{singles out for special praise the guidebook to Wells cathedral— Pyke Johnson
}Antonyms: reject: eschew
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
