Meaning & use
chosen
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Picked out from other possibilities on purpose.
Grammar: Usually comes before the noun: the chosen candidate, not the candidate chosen.
Patterns
- chosen by someone
- chosen for something
She stuck with her chosen career despite the low pay.
The chosen candidate will start in May.
Each student presented a chosen poem to the class.
adjectivebefore a nounreligion
Believed to be specially selected, especially by a god or fate.
Grammar: Often used with a title or the: the chosen one, the chosen people.
Patterns
- the chosen one
- a chosen people
In the film, the chosen one must defeat the dark lord.
Many traditions speak of a chosen people.
He felt like the chosen one when the offer arrived.
verbtransitive
The past participle of choose, used to form perfect and passive verbs.
Grammar: Used after have or be: we have chosen blue; he was chosen last.
Patterns
- be chosen as something
- have chosen something
We have chosen a name for the puppy.
She was chosen as team captain.
The color was chosen by the whole class.
Common combinations
- chosen path
- He remained faithful to his chosen path.
- the chosen one
- The chosen one in the legend was a shepherd.
- chosen field
- She excelled in her chosen field of marine biology.
- handpicked and chosen
- The guests were carefully chosen.
- chosen few
- Only a chosen few received invitations.
- randomly chosen
- A randomly chosen ticket won the prize.
Synonyms and how they differ
- selected
- Selected is more formal and often used when the choice follows set criteria or a process.
- picked
- Picked is the casual word and suggests a quicker choice.
- elected
- Elected is used only for people chosen by vote, while chosen has no such limit.
- favored
- Favored suggests preferred or advantaged rather than simply selected.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: chosen or chose? chosen or choosing?
chosen vs chose
Chose is the past tense (I chose it) and needs no helper, while chosen is the participle used after have or be.
chosen vs choosing
Choosing is the -ing form for ongoing action, not the finished result.
Practice
Which sentence uses the correct form of choose?
Choose one answer.
After has, English needs the past participle, which is chosen. Chose is only the simple past, and choosed does not exist.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chosen”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.