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nonelective

nonelective

7.2
A position filled by appointment rather than by election
  • adjective
  • /ˌnʌnɪˈlɛktɪv/
translation icon : no electivo
  • The Court's apparent detachment from politics is made possible by its nonelective status.

Examples

  • In many countries, the judiciary is structured around nonelective offices to maintain impartiality.

  • The committee appointed a new director to the nonelective position to ensure continuity in leadership.

  • The three measures of political rights are the fairness of elections, whether the chief executive came to office via an election, and the effectiveness and elective/nonelective nature of the national legislative body.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Military governments are therefore less sensitive to domestic legitimacy issues that have symbolic importance because the nonelective nature of their governance renders them relatively isolated from popular politics.

    Academic text (2000)
  • She was confirmed for a nonelective role in the advisory board, emphasizing her expertise rather than popularity.

Synonyms

unelected
vsnonelective
16 4.4

Not chosen by people in an election

is specific about being filled by appointment rather than only not chosen by vote
appointive
vsnonelective
  • Formal
1 7.5

A job or position given by a person in power, not by election

is limited to contrast with election and does not mention hiring
nonelected
vsnonelective
1 7.0

A position that is filled by appointment instead of by vote

is the same in meaning but differs in written form
non-elective
vsnonelective
  • Formal
7.1

A position filled by appointment instead of by election

is identical in meaning but written without a hyphen or different spelling

Antonyms

12 5.2

A position chosen by a vote rather than by appointment

Surface Forms

nonelective positive

Morphology

nonelective = elective (transparent) = non + elective

Formed by the productive prefix 'non-' added to the adjective 'elective'; the meaning is the direct negation 'not elective' (i.e., not chosen by election).

Etymology

Nonelective comes from non- 'not' and elect 'chosen', so it literally means 'not chosen'. Think of someone getting a job because they were appointed rather than chosen by a vote — that is why a nonelective position is filled by appointment instead of by election.