voter

voter — noun

1. a person who is entitled by law to choose a candidate in an election and to cast

1.nounC2
Definition

a person who is entitled by law to choose a candidate in an election and to cast a vote.

Example

Amihan registered as a voter before the deadline last month.

register + as a voter — the process of signing up to vote

More than half of eligible voters in the district turned out for the election.

collocation: eligible voters / voter turnout

Common collocations
  • registered voter
  • eligible voter
  • voter turnout
  • swing voter
  • absentee voter
Synonyms
  • elector

    more formal or legal term, used in official documents and constitutional contexts

  • constituent

    refers specifically to a voter who lives in a particular electoral district

Grammar Patterns

countable noun

Usage Note

Often modified by adjectives describing voting behaviour or status, such as registered, eligible, swing, undecided, or absentee. Frequently paired with turnout to describe participation rates in an election.

Common Mistakes

The electorate went to the polling stations one by one.
The voters went to the polling stations one by one.
'electorate' is a collective noun for all voters as a group; it cannot refer to individual people.

Word family

Common collocations

Nouns

  • voter turnout
  • voter registration
  • voter ID
  • voter fraud
  • voter roll

Adverbs

Phrases

  • get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaign

Etymology

LatinEnglish

From the verb vote, which comes from Latin vōtum meaning 'a vow, a wish, a promise' — the same root as vow. The noun voter emerged in the mid-18th century as democratic elections became more widespread.