Meaning & use
representative
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person chosen to speak, act, or vote for a group or another person.
Grammar: Often followed by of or for: a representative of the union.
Patterns
- a representative of something
- a representative for someone
Each class elects a representative to the student council.
A representative of the company answered questions.
She served as the union's representative in the talks.
nouncountableAmerican
A member of the lower house of the United States Congress or a state legislature.
Grammar: Often capitalized before a name: Representative Lee.
Patterns
- a representative from a state
- elect a representative
Our representative voted against the bill.
The representative from Ohio spoke for ten minutes.
Voters will choose a new representative in November.
adjectivecomparable
Typical of a larger group, and so a good example of it.
Grammar: Often followed by of: a sample representative of the whole population.
Patterns
- representative of something
- a representative sample
The survey sample was not representative of the whole country.
This painting is representative of her early style.
Choose a representative group of students for the test.
adjectivebefore a noun
Based on a system in which people elect others to make decisions for them.
Grammar: Used mainly with government: a representative democracy.
Patterns
- representative government
- representative democracy
The country is a representative democracy with a written constitution.
Representative government lets citizens vote without deciding every issue.
They created a more representative council.
Word forms
| plural | representatives |
|---|
Common combinations
- sales representative
- A sales representative visited the office on Monday.
- representative sample
- The poll used a representative sample of voters.
- elected representative
- Write to your elected representative about the issue.
- customer service representative
- The customer service representative fixed the billing error.
- representative democracy
- A representative democracy works through elected officials.
- typical and representative
- The photo is representative of daily life there.
Synonyms and how they differ
- delegate
- A delegate is sent to a meeting with specific instructions, while a representative may act more freely.
- spokesperson
- A spokesperson only speaks for others, but a representative may also decide and vote.
- agent
- An agent acts on someone's behalf in business, often for payment.
- typical
- Typical fits the adjective sense, but representative suggests a deliberate choice as an example of a group.
Opposites
Word family
- represent verb
- to speak or act for someone, or to stand for something
- representation noun
- the act of acting for others, or an image of something
- unrepresentative adjective
- not typical of a group
- misrepresent verb
- to describe falsely
Commonly confused: representative or representation?
representative vs representation
Representation is the act or result of representing; a representative is the person or a typical example.
Practice
The pollsters wanted a sample that was ___ of the whole city, not just the wealthy neighborhoods.
Choose one answer.
A representative sample is typical of the whole group. Responsive means reacting quickly, which describes people, not a sample's typicality.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “representative”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.