electorate

English

Etymology

From elector +‎ -ate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈlɛktəɹət/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

Noun

electorate (plural electorates)

1. (historical) The dominion of an Elector in the Holy Roman Empire.
   • 2016, Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, Penguin 2017, page 187:

     Brandenburg, emerging around what would become Berlin, acquired distinct status as an electorate in the mid-fourteenth century.

2. The collective people of a country, state, or electoral district who are entitled to vote.

   The votes have been counted and the electorate has spoken.

   • 2019 August 10, Gordon Brown, “The very idea of a United Kingdom is being torn apart by toxic nationalism”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Incoming governments normally announce that they will seek to serve the whole electorate.

3. The geographic area encompassing an electoral district.

   The electorate of Finchley borders on the electorate of Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, splitting the new housing estate of Royal Cupolas.

Synonyms

• (collective people): constituency
• (geographic area): riding (Canada), constituency (United Kingdom), seat (Australia), division (Australia), ward, district, electoral district

Related terms

• elector
• electoral
• electoral district
• election
• Elector
• Electorate

Translations

those entitled to vote collectively

• Armenian: ընտրազանգված (hy) (əntrazangvac), էլեկտորատ (hy) (ēlektorat)
• Basque: hautesleria
• Catalan: electorat m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 選民 (zh), 选民 (zh) (xuǎnmín)

• Czech: elektorát (cs) m
• Dutch: electoraat (nl)
• Esperanto: voĉdonantaro
• Finnish: äänestäjäkunta (fi), äänioikeutetut (fi) pl, äänestäjät pl
• French: électorat (fr) m
• Galician: electorado (gl) m

• Georgian: ამომრჩევლები (amomrčevlebi)
• German: Wählerschaft (de) f
• Greek: εκλογικό σώμα (el) n (eklogikó sóma)
• Italian: elettorato (it) m
• Japanese: 有権者 (ゆうけんしゃ, yūkensha)
• Portuguese: eleitorado (pt) m
• Romanian: electorat (ro) n, alegători m pl
• Russian: электора́т (ru) m (elektorát), избира́тели (ru) m pl (izbiráteli)
• Spanish: electorado (es) m
• Swedish: väljare (sv) c pl, valmanskår c, valmannakår c, väljarkår c
• Ukrainian: електора́т m (elektorát)

geographic area encompassing electoral district — see electoral district

dominion of an elector in the Holy Roman Empire

• Bavarian: kuafiaschtndum
• Danish: kurfyrstendømme n
• Dutch: keurvorstendom (nl) n
• Finnish: elektoraatti

• German: Kurfürstentum (de) n
• Portuguese: eleitorado (pt) m
• Swedish: kurfurstendöme n

References

• “electorate”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.