choose

verb

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\ ˈchüz

chose\ ˈchōz

\; chosen\ ˈchō-zᵊn

\; choosing\ ˈchü-ziŋ

Definition of choose

transitive verb

1a : to select freely and after consideration choose a career

b : to decide on especially by vote : elect chose her as captain

2a : to have a preference for choose one car over another

b : decide chose to go by train

intransitive verb

1 : to make a selection finding it hard to choose

2 : to take an alternative —used after cannot and usually followed by butwhen earth is so kind, men cannot choose but be happy— J. A. Froude

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Choose the Right Synonym for choose

choose, elect, and select mean to decide upon one possibility from among several. choose is used for making a decision after careful thought. She chose to follow the right course. elect may be used for the deliberate picking of one thing over another. Voters elect one candidate for president. select is used when there are many things from which to choose. Customers may select from a variety of goods.

Examples of choose in a Sentence

Each year thousands of college students choose volunteer-service trips over beach bumming during their spring breaks and summer vacations. — Edward M. Kennedy, Time, 22 Sept. 2008 I had been invited to choose certain things that I might want from the house, but although there were indeed a couple of things that I would have liked, I was withheld from making the trip … — Alice Adams, "Why I Write," in The Story and Its Writer, edited by Ann Charters, 1987 … as an instructor at New York University he chose to live by himself in lodgings that for the time must have been very expensive … — William Styron, This Quiet Dust and Other Writings, (l953) 1982 Any summary I might try to write for the rest of the novel would be worthless and I don't choose to waste my time at it. — Flannery O'Connor, The Habit of Being, 1979 The political party chose a leader. They chose her as the team captain. We've chosen a different time to go. He was chosen because he's qualified for the job. She was chosen from a long list of people. He chose his words carefully. Which shirt would you choose? How do I choose when there's so much available? Let everyone choose for themselves. You can choose from among a number of alternatives.

Recent Examples on the Web Likewise, the president chose now, of all times, to finally unveil his plan to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians. — Peter Baker, New York Times, "Trump Tries to Upstage Drama in the Senate With His Own Programming," 24 Jan. 2020 Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer chose Whitmer and Escobar to deliver the response to the State of the Union address, with Escobar delivering the response in Spanish. — Madison Dibble, Washington Examiner, "Michigan governor chosen to deliver Democratic response to Trump’s State of the Union address," 24 Jan. 2020 Jim eventually chose to retire and returned to his passion, journalism. — Melanie Feuk, Houston Chronicle, "Respected journalist, Tomball community member Jim Streiner dies at 89," 24 Jan. 2020 Subash and Chandra, then a schoolteacher, chose to set aside 2019 as a year to chase a dream. — Dominic Armato, azcentral, "Meet your new Nepali dumpling destination in metro Phoenix. Here's your guide," 24 Jan. 2020 For some reason, Kim's illustrators chose to make her top lip maroon and her bottom lip near invisible. — Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, "This Viral Kim Possible Lipstick Is Sending Twitter Back to 2002," 24 Jan. 2020 Arianna Huffington The HuffPost founder chose some glam throwback photos to include in her post. — Andrea Wurzburger, PEOPLE.com, "Stars Who Are Recreating Dolly Parton's 'Get You a Woman Who Can Do It All' Meme," 24 Jan. 2020 A year later at the draft in Philadelphia, the Bruins chose him with the 25th overall pick. — Matt Porter, BostonGlobe.com, "David Pastrnak has all the ingredients to be a leading man," 24 Jan. 2020 When arbitration is triggered, each side chooses one arbitrator to represent it on the panel. — Joshua Fechter, ExpressNews.com, "Details emerge about new five-year union contract for San Antonio firefighters," 24 Jan. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'choose.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.