ballot

1 of 2

noun

bal·lot ˈba-lət

Synonyms of ballot next

: a small ball used in secret voting

: a sheet of paper used to cast a secret vote

: the action or system of secret voting

: the right to vote

: vote sense 1a

: the number of votes cast

: the drawing of lots

ballot

2 of 2

verb

balloted; balloting; ballots

intransitive verb

: to vote or decide by ballot

balloter noun

Did you know?

When people voted in ancient Athens, they dropped pebbles into an urn. Similarly, when voting was done by the people of Venice during the Renaissance, secrecy was assured by the use of little colored or marked balls. The Italian word for “little ball” is ballotta, from balla, meaning “ball,” and the diminutive suffix –otta. Now any kind of secret voting, by ball, piece of paper, or voting machine, is called a ballot. So is the right to vote itself.

Example Sentences

Noun They cast their votes in a secret ballot. She was elected by secret ballot.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

But even with the lower chamber’s historic approval, the legislation’s chances of ending up on the Nov. 7 ballot looks bleak in the Senate. —

Aarón Torres, Dallas News, 18 May 2023 Tenants’ efforts to get the measure on the ballot last November was delayed by a legal challenge from the Portland Business Alliance, which complained that the description of the ballot measure was inadequate, and did not explain how the tax would be levied. —

oregonlive, 17 May 2023 All candidates compete on the same primary ballot, with the top two vote-getters advancing to a general election. —

Bridget Bowman, NBC News, 17 May 2023 Beshear is on the Democratic ballot, running against Peppy Martin and Geoff Young. —

Nick Hollkamp, The Courier-Journal, 17 May 2023 Voting is open for the next Cincinnati.com Athletes of the Week ballot of the 2022-2023 high school sports year for the week spanning May 8-14. —

Melanie Laughman, The Enquirer, 16 May 2023 Now, under a set of agreements finalized Monday, Star Garden has dropped its ballot challenges and agreed to work with the union, paving the way for the dancers to join the century-old actors and stage managers union, Actors’ Equity Association. —

Ava Sasani, New York Times, 16 May 2023 Wisconsin Justice Initiative had previously tried to keep the question off the ballot in April 2020. —

Molly Beck, Journal Sentinel, 16 May 2023 In the last presidential and parliamentary elections, in 2018, around 85 percent of voters cast ballots. —

Ben Hubbard, BostonGlobe.com, 15 May 2023

Verb

Strikes on London’s underground could last until late November after a prominent union started balloting workers for more industrial action. —

Ali Asad Zulfiqar, Bloomberg.com, 25 Apr. 2023 The Howell product is one of two goalies to make the top 10 in Hobey Baker Award balloting this season. —

Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press, 24 Mar. 2023 On Christmas Day, Young added a final pitching present under the tree by signing Eovaldi — a fourth-place finisher in the AL Cy Young balloting in 2021 — to a two-year, $34 million deal. —

Dallas News, 26 Feb. 2023 More than two-thirds of the country’s junior doctor workforce — some 48,000 BMA members — were balloted to strike. —

Katherine Hignett, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2023 So can ballot harvesting, with GOP precinct workers gathering properly marked ballots from friends and neighbors. —

Arthur Herman, WSJ, 1 Dec. 2022 Typically, legislators make fixes to ballot measures after they’ve been approved, because lawmaking by voter petition can be a far from perfect process. —

Larry Edelman, BostonGlobe.com, 24 Nov. 2022 The Times editorial board presents its picks for the 2022 midterms, from candidates to ballot measures. —

Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov. 2022 The races range from gubernatorial seats to ballot measures, to eking out a veto-proof majority in the statehouse. —

Cheyenne Haslett, ABC News, 29 Oct. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ballot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Italian ballotta, from Italian dialect, diminutive of balla ball — more at balloon

First Known Use

Noun

1549, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1603, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of ballot was in 1549

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Ballot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ballot. Accessed 28 May. 2023.

Copy Citation

Kids Definition

ballot

1 of 2 noun

bal·lot ˈbal-ət

: a small ball or sheet of paper used to cast a secret vote

: the action or system of voting

: the right to vote

: the number of votes cast

ballot

2 of 2 verb

: to vote or decide by ballot

Etymology

Noun

from Italian ballotta "little ball (used in voting)," from balla "ball"

Word Origin

Small objects have long been used as a means of tallying votes. In ancient Greece, a word for "pebble," psēphos, came to designate any voting token, and then to mean simply "vote," from the practice of dropping a pebble into one of two urns as decisions were made in public assemblies. In medieval Venice, small balls were used in public lotteries and elections; in one such lottery, members of the city's Great Council would draw gold and silver balls from vases to determine nominating committees for officeholders. The word for "small ball" in the Venetian form of Italian was ballotta, which was extended to other tokens used in drawing lots and voting, such as scraps of linen or paper. Familiarity with Venetian customs led to the adoption of the word as ballot in English.