ballot

1 of 2

noun

bal·​lot ˈba-lət 

1

a

: a small ball used in secret voting

b

: a sheet of paper used to cast a secret vote

2

a

: the action or system of secret voting

b

: the right to vote

c

: vote sense 1a

3

: the number of votes cast

4

: 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.

Synonyms

Noun

• vote

Examples of ballot in a Sentence

Noun

They cast their votes in a secret ballot.

She was elected by secret ballot.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Against the Dodgers, though, that mentality is not easy to maintain, even for a pitcher who will populate so many Cy Young Award ballots. —Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2025

Democrats are doing fairly well in the generic congressional ballot, which tests which party voters prefer to control Congress. —W. James Antle Iii, The Washington Examiner, 12 Sep. 2025

Verb

Wilson, who has fallen in QB Tiers balloting every year since 2020, is one of 14 quarterbacks with at least 40 starts since 2022. —Mike Sando, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025

California’s vote-counting is notorious for taking weeks to get results, but that’s a function of screwy deadlines rather than the mail-in balloting itself. —Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 5 Sep. 2025

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

Phrases Containing ballot

• absentee ballot
• Australian ballot
• ballot box
• cast one's ballot
• down-ballot
• on the ballot
• rig the ballot
• secret ballot
• short ballot
• stuff the ballot box

Rhymes for ballot

• alate
• fallot
• mallet
• palate
• palette
• pallet
• shallot

Kids Definition

ballot

1 of 2 noun

bal·​lot ˈbal-ət 

1

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

2

a

: the action or system of voting

b

: the right to vote

3

: 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.