noncandidate

1 8.5

A person who publicly says they will not run for a political office

noun
/ˌnɒnˈkændɪdɪt/

: no candidato

He is a noncandidate this year, focusing instead on community projects and local initiatives.

Examples

After publicly declaring himself a noncandidate, she decided to support her friend in the race.
The former mayor has announced that he is a noncandidate for the upcoming election.
He did not think that most groups should be restricted in their contributions, or that noncandidates should be prevented from distributing anonymous campaign literature.

Academic text (1996)

Antonyms

candidate

∞ 2.8

A person running in an election for public office

Surface Forms

noncandidate singular

noncandidates plural

Morphology

noncandidate = candidate (transparent) = non + candidate

The productive negative prefix 'non-' simply negates 'candidate', yielding 'not a candidate', which is directly interpretable by learners.

Etymology

Noncandidate combines non- meaning 'not' with candidate, a person who runs for a political job, so it simply means someone who says they are 'not' running for that office. A helpful way to remember it is to think of non- like in nonstop and the familiar word candidate, which explains why a noncandidate can still be an important figure even if they are not a contender.