select

select adj Select, elect, picked, exclusive can mean marked by a superior character or quality which distinguishes the person, the thing, or the group so qualified from others (as in value, excellence, or favor).

Select implies that the person or thing has been chosen with discrimination in preference to others of the same class or kind

{

the hotel caters to a select clientele

}

{

the Milton of poetry is, in his own words again, the man of "industrious and select reading"— Arnold

}

Select is also often used, with little or no implication of choice or selection, in the sense of superior or exceptional

{

a select audience

}

{

persecution of that sort which bows down and crushes all but a very few select spirits— Macaulay

}

Elect commonly implies careful or discriminating selection and it carries a stronger implication than select of admission to some carefully restricted or inner circle; sometimes it also suggests the award of special privileges

{

that delicious phantom of being an elect spirit. . . unlike the crowd— Kingsley

}

{

Darwin was one of those elect persons in whose subconscious, if not in their conscious, nature is implanted the realization that "science is poetry"— Ellis

}

Picked, like select, may or may not imply actual choice; the term commonly applies to what is conspicuously superior or above the average though it may suggest little more than the best available

{

a picked team

}

{

the candidates are all picked men

}

{

the picked moments of exaltation and vision which great tragedy brings— Montague

}

Exclusive in its most general sense implies a character in a thing that forces or inclines it to rule out whatever is not congruous or compatible with it or is its opposite or antithesis in constitution or character

{

mutually exclusive colors when mixed in the right proportions form a neutral gray

}

{

exclusive concepts—animal and vegetable, for instance— Bowen

}

{

didacticism and a sense of humor are mutually exclusive qualities— Lowes

}

As applied especially to persons, groups, or institutions exclusive implies tendencies or rules which prevent free acceptance or admission of those not conforming to imposed standards or not satisfying the requirements of those who are fastidious, snobbish, or highly critical

{

a weak, critical, fastidious creature, vain of a little exclusive information or of an uncommon knack in Latin verse— Eliot

}

{

the exclusive caste system of a rigid feudalism— Binyon

}

Analogous words: *choice, exquisite, rare, delicate, dainty, recherché: superlative, surpassing, peerless, *supreme

Antonyms: indiscriminate

select vb *choose, elect, prefer, opt, pick, cull, single

Analogous words: *assort, sort, classify: discriminate, discern (see corresponding nouns at DISCERNMENT)

Antonyms: reject

Contrasted words: refuse, repudiate, spurn (see DECLINE vb)