choose

choose — verb

1. To look at the people or things available and make up your mind about which one

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveA1
Definition

To look at the people or things available and make up your mind about which one to take, keep, or use, because it seems best or most suitable for your situation.

Example

Ravi spent ten minutes choosing a birthday card for his aunt at the shop.

choose + for + recipient (indirect object pattern)

The menu listed over forty dishes, so Priya asked Bao to choose for her.

Common collocations
  • choose carefully
  • choose wisely
  • choose freely
  • choose from a list
  • choose between options
  • choose a career
  • choose a colour
  • choose a name
Synonyms
  • pick

    More informal and conversational; often used for quick decisions (pick a movie, pick a name).

  • select

    More formal; suggests careful choice based on specific criteria (select a candidate, select a product).

  • opt for

    Emphasises choosing one alternative over others after weighing options, often in travel or finance contexts.

  • decide on

    Places more weight on the conclusion stage of the process (after looking at three houses, we decided on the last one).

Antonyms
  • reject

    To decide NOT to take or accept something that was considered.

  • discard

    To throw away or remove an option after considering it.

Grammar Patterns

choose + noun phrase

choose + between / among / from + options

choose + indirect object + direct object

Usage Note

Frequently used with between (for two options), among or from (for three or more), and for (to state the purpose). This is the only sense that takes a direct object referring to the selected item and can appear in 'choose someone something' structures, e.g. 'Choose me a good seat.'

Common Mistakes

Yesterday I choosed a red dress.
Yesterday I chose a red dress.
Choose is irregular: present choose, past chose, past participle chosen.
She has choosen the blue paint.
She has chosen the blue paint.
The past participle is chosen (double 'o', single 's').
I need to choose between the three options.
I need to choose among the three options.
Between is for two items; among (or from) is for three or more.

2. To make up your mind to do a particular thing, rather than doing something else.

2.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

To make up your mind to do a particular thing, rather than doing something else.

Example

Yusuf chose to study engineering because he loved building things as a child.

choose + to-infinitive for intentional decision

The Watanabe family chose not to buy a new car this year to save money.

choose + not + to-infinitive (negative form)

Common collocations
  • choose to stay
  • choose to leave
  • choose to remain
  • choose to participate
  • choose not to respond
  • choose whether to go
Synonyms
  • decide to

    Slightly more neutral; can be used with or without a prior set of alternatives ('I decided to go').

  • elect to

    More formal; suggests a deliberate, sometimes official choice ('The board elected to postpone the vote').

  • resolve to

    Stronger; implies firm determination ('She resolved to finish the marathon').

Antonyms
  • decline

    To politely say no to an opportunity or offer ('He declined to comment').

  • refuse

    To say firmly that you will not do something ('She refused to leave').

Grammar Patterns

choose + to-infinitive

choose + not + to-infinitive

choose + whether + to-infinitive

Usage Note

Always followed by a to-infinitive or a not + to-infinitive. Cannot be followed by a bare infinitive or a gerund (*choose going, *choose go). Distinguish from sense 1: here the object is always an action (e.g. 'chose to stay'), never a thing ('chose a shirt').

Common Mistakes

She didn't chose to come.
She didn't choose to come.
After did / didn't, the base form choose is required, not the past tense chose.
He choosed to stay home.
He chose to stay home.
The past tense of choose is chose, not choosed.
We choose staying in tonight.
We chose to stay in tonight.
Sense 2 requires a to-infinitive, not a gerund.

3. Used to say that two or more people or things are so alike that none is clearly

3.verbintransitiveB2
Definition

Used to say that two or more people or things are so alike that none is clearly better than the others.

Example

Both candidates were so well prepared that there was little to choose between them.

fixed expression: there is little to choose between

The two hotels stand right next to each other, with little to choose between them on price.

Common collocations
  • little to choose between
  • not much to choose between
  • very little to choose between
Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

there is little to choose between + people/things

there is not much to choose between + people/things

Usage Note

Only appears in the fixed sentence pattern 'there is little / not much to choose between X and Y.' The subject is always dummy there. This sense never takes a direct object and cannot be used with a person as the grammatical subject (*I chose between them little).

Common Mistakes

There is little to choose among the two cars.
There is little to choose between the two cars.
This fixed expression always uses between, never among.
There is a little to choose between them.
There is little to choose between them.
Adding a changes the meaning from 'almost no difference' to 'a small difference.'
Idioms

pick and choose

idiom

To select only the items or options that you like best.

Mia can pick and choose which projects she wants to join.

Don't just pick and choose the easy tasks; help with everything.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Choose is the most general and neutral word for selecting something from a group of possibilities. You can choose anything from a colour to a career path. Pick is more informal and conversational — you pick a movie to watch or pick a name from a hat. Select is more formal and suggests a careful choice based on specific criteria: a committee selects a winner, but a child chooses a toy. Opt for emphasises a deliberate choice of one alternative over others, often in contexts like travel insurance or meal plans ('I opted for the vegetarian set meal'). Decide on places more emphasis on the conclusion stage of deliberation: after looking at three apartments for weeks, you finally decide on the second one. In everyday speech, choose is the safest choice for most situations: 'I chose the blue sofa' sounds neutral, while 'I picked the blue one' sounds casual and 'I selected the blue sofa for the living room' sounds more deliberate.

pick ↗select ↗opt fordecide on ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • can choose
  • free to choose
  • given the choice
  • right to choose

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Choose comes from Old English cēosan, meaning 'to choose, taste, or try.' It traces back to Proto-Germanic *keus- (to test or select) and further to the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵeus- (to taste or choose). The ancient link between 'choosing' and 'tasting' reflects a time when selecting something often involved physically sampling it. The word took its modern form in Middle English as chesen or chosen, and the spelling with oo (choose, chose, chosen) was settled by the 1500s.