Meaning & use
nonvoting
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Meaning
adjectivebefore a noun
Not having the right or power to vote, especially in a legislature or company.
Grammar: Used before a noun: nonvoting members, nonvoting shares.
Patterns
- nonvoting member
- nonvoting shareholder
- nonvoting delegate
The committee includes several nonvoting members who can speak but not decide.
She holds nonvoting shares, so she gets dividends but no say in company votes.
The territory sends a nonvoting delegate to the national assembly.
Common combinations
- nonvoting member
- The board has five voting and two nonvoting members.
- nonvoting shares
- He bought nonvoting shares to avoid taking on responsibility.
- nonvoting delegate
- The island's nonvoting delegate can introduce bills but not vote on them.
- nonvoting stock
- The company issued nonvoting stock to raise money without giving up control.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disenfranchised
- This is stronger and often suggests someone has been unfairly deprived of a vote, while nonvoting simply describes a formal lack of voting rights.
Opposites
Word family
- nonvoter noun
- A person who does not vote or who is not allowed to vote.
- voting adjective
- Having the right to vote, as in voting member.
Commonly confused: nonvoting or non-voting?
nonvoting vs non-voting
The hyphenated form is also common, especially in British English; both mean the same.
Practice
A member of the council who can attend meetings but cannot cast a vote is best described as a ______ member.
Choose one answer.
Nonvoting means without the right to vote, which fits the person who cannot cast a vote. Voting is the opposite, and electoral and polling describe elections, not a member's status.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nonvoting”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.