electoraten.
/ɪˈlɛktərət/ 1.
a. The state or dignity of a German Elector.
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society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > sovereign ruler or monarch > other independent rulers > [noun] > German elector > position of
prince-electorship1583
electorality1620
electorship1624
electorate1827
1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. II. xvi. 593 The abdication of the electorate.
b. The dominions of an Elector.
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1675 London Gaz. No. 983/3 Imperialists have now quite cleared the Electorate of Cologne.
1731 J. Swift Let. to Pope 20 July in Wks. (1765) VIII. ii. 92 It was a Whiggish action to honour Duke Schomberg, who was..in the service of that electorate, which is now a kingdom.
1834 T. B. Macaulay Earl of Chatham in Ess. (1854) I. 308 The whole electorate was in the hands of the French.
2. The whole body of electors.
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society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > right to vote at elections > [noun] > one who has right to vote > whole body of electors
people1646
electorate1879
democracy1906
1879 T. P. O'Connor Ld. Beaconsfield 534 The entire urban electorate of England.
1885 Manch. Examiner 15 May 5/1 The arguments..are such as will tell upon the new electorate.
Draft additions 1993
3. Australian and New Zealand. The place or district represented by an elected member of the parliament of Australia or New Zealand; a constituency.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > right to vote at elections > [noun] > constituency
constituent1772
constituency1831
polling district1831
electorate1866
1866 R. P. Whitworth Bailliere's New S. Wales Gazetteer 608 This electorate comprises the town and country districts of Dungog, Clarence, and Stroud (Port Stephens), and returns 1 member to the Legislative Assembly.
1902 W. H. Moore Constitution of Australia vi. 105 At the first general election, South Australia and Tasmania voted as single electorates.
1965 Oxf. N.Z. Encycl. 105/2 The country is divided into seventy-six European electorates, each of which returns one member to Parliament.
1979 S. Levine N.Z. Polit. Syst. v. 92 The small town and semi-rural electorates of the South Island failed to go to Labour.
1987 Stock & Land (Melbourne) 5 Mar. 7/1 We weren't able to muster sufficient resources to field candidates in all 39 electorates.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
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