Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to reelect

to reelect

83 3.5
To choose someone again for a government job after their term ends
  • verb
  • /ˌriːɪˈlɛkt/
translation icon : reelegir
  • Voters will decide whether to reelect the mayor for another term in office.
  • get reelected
  • reelect incumbents
  • reelect the president

And this president, if he's reelected, you know what will happen?

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • The controversy also cast substantial doubt on his ability to be reelected in 1994.

    Academic text (1994)

  • What will you do if you are reelected?

    United Passions (2014)

  • On election day, reelect the president.

    Wag the Dog (1997)

  • Guys, if you want four more years of this disaster, by all means, reelect President Biden.

  • I know you want your man reelected.

    The Package (1989)

  • You will never get reelected.

    Southland Tales (2007)

  • Chief Sullivan was reelected for three more terms.

    The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

  • Buoyed by the success of his plan, he was elected president in 1994 and reelected four years later.

    Academic text (2009)

  • American voters now routinely reelect House incumbents from both political parties, returning them by overwhelming margins.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The CPPD's subsequent victory in 1993 marked the first time an incumbent government had been reelected since 1946.

    Academic text (2000)

Synonyms

to re-elect
vsto reelect
3.1

Vote for someone to hold the same job again

appears without a hyphen as the modern single word spelling form

Surface Forms

reelect infinitive
reelected past
reelected past participle
reelecting present participle
reelects third person singular

Morphology

reelect = elect (transparent) = re + elect

This is a standard and highly productive use of the prefix 're-' meaning 'again' added to 'elect'.

Etymology

The word reelect uses the prefix re- meaning 'again' and the verb elect meaning 'to choose'. So, to reelect someone is to 'choose again', which is why it means voting a person into the same office for another term.