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Glite Dictionary
🤲 To choose carefully 🥕 To pick by hand
to handpick

to handpick

23 3.7
Choose someone carefully for a special job or role
  • verb
  • /ˈhændˌpɪk/
translation icon : seleccionar
  • I handpicked every man in Blue Boy.
  • handpicked successor
  • handpicked representatives

Examples

  • You and I have been handpicked by the President.

    Wild Wild West (1999)

  • And we get to handpick our team.

    Foxcatcher (2014)

  • Since public school teachers have to teach everyone, and private schools get to handpick their student body...

    Blog text (21)

  • I can handpick the people I audit.

    Business Ethics (2020)

  • He was handpicked by the Texas attorney general.

    Roe v. Wade (2021)

  • She personally handpicked your copilot candidates.

    Pacific Rim (2013)

  • Carlos arrived today with Deacon and Blake, a handpicked team of 460 pounds of combined muscle.

    Blog text (8)

  • Taleh had handpicked a trusted officer, one renowned as a master logistician, to manage the all-important buildup here.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Mitchell and Jessen were handpicked to reverse-engineer communist interrogation techniques and teach them to CIA interrogators.

    Blog text (11)

  • The manager decided to handpick the final candidates for the position, ensuring they met all the criteria.

Synonyms

to select
vsto handpick
823 2.5

To choose someone or something from a group

emphasizes personal choice for a special role rather than general suitability
to cherry-pick
vsto handpick
  • Informal
23 6.3

To choose only the best people or things for yourself

focuses on choosing personally for a specific role, not for personal gain
to hand-pick
vsto handpick
20 3.8

To choose carefully by yourself for a special purpose

is the same meaning but written with a hyphen
to preselect
vsto handpick
3 3.7

Choose something in advance

chooses personally at the time for a specific purpose rather than beforehand

Antonyms

to reject
839 1.9

Refuse to accept someone or something

How Selective

to cherry-pick
  • Informal
23 6.3
to handpick
23 3.7
to select
823 2.5
to choose
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

handpick infinitive
handpicked past
handpicked past participle
handpicking present participle
handpicks third person singular

Morphology

handpick = hand + pick (semi-transparent) = hand + pick

While 'hand' and 'pick' are clear, the specific meaning of carefully selecting is metaphorical.

Etymology

Handpick is a clear mix of hand and pick, originally meaning to pick things 'by hand' one at a time. That's why to handpick someone means to choose them personally and very carefully for a special job.