- 1[intransitive, transitive] to decide which thing or person you want out of the ones that are available You choose—I can't decide. There are plenty of restaurants to choose from. choose between A and/or B She had to choose between quitting her job or hiring a nanny. choose something Sarah chose her words carefully. This site has been chosen for the new school. choose A from B We have to choose a new manager from a shortlist of five candidates. choose somebody/something as/for something He chose banking as a career. We chose Paul Stubbs as/for chairperson. choose whether, what, etc… You'll have to choose whether to buy it or not. choose to do something We chose to go by train. choose somebody to be/do something We chose Paul Stubbs to be chairperson.
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- 2[intransitive, transitive] to prefer or decide to do something Employees can retire at 60 if they choose. choose to do something Many people choose not to marry. see choice Thesauruschoose
- select
- pick
- decide
- opt
- go for something
- choose to decide which thing or person you want out of the ones that are available:I can't decide—you choose.
- select [often passive] (formal) to choose a person or thing, usually carefully, from a group of people or things:He was selected for the team. a randomly selected sample of 23 schools
- pick (somewhat informal) to choose a person or thing from a group of people or things:Pick a number between one and ten.
- Choose is the most general of these words and the only one that can be used without an object. When you select something, you choose it carefully, unless you actually say that it is selected randomly/at random. Pick is a more informal word and often a less careful action, used especially when the choice being made is not very important.
- decide to choose between two or more possibilities:We're still trying to decide on a movie.
- opt to choose to take or not to take a particular course of action:After graduating, she opted for a career in music. After a lot of thought, I opted against buying a motorcycle.
- go for something (somewhat informal) to choose something:I think I'll go for the fruit salad.
- to choose/pick/decide between A and/or B
- to choose/select/pick A from B
- to opt/go for somebody/something
- to choose/decide/opt to do something
- to choose/select/pick somebody/something carefully/at random
- randomly chosen/selected/picked
verb jump to other results
NAmE//tʃuz//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they choose he / she / it chooses
past simple chose
past participle chosen
-ing form choosing
to choose only those things that you like or want very much You have to take any job you can get—you can't pick and choose.
there is very little difference between two or more things or people
Check pronunciation: choose