electoral college

noun

variants or Electoral College

plural electoral colleges or Electoral Colleges

: a body of electors

Voting has now closed in the parliamentary party vote, which means all three electoral colleges have finished voting.

—Hugh Linehan and Harry McGee

He chairs the electoral college of the Culinary Institute of America's Vintners Hall of Fame …

—Cy Musiker

especially, usually Electoral College : one that elects the president and vice president of the U.S.

If the Electoral College did end up tied, the Constitution dictates that it's the incoming Congress who breaks the stalemate, with the House of Representatives determining the president—but instead of voting as 435 individual members, each state votes as a single bloc.

—Trevor Bach

In the electoral college, Roosevelt buried Wilkie 449 to 82.

—Mary Beth Norton et al.

Examples of electoral college in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Carter, who was the longest-living president in U.S. history, lost the 1980 election with 41 percent of the popular vote and just 49 electoral college votes. —David Faris, Newsweek, 30 Dec. 2024

For the first time, the president was chosen not by a national election, but in parliament by a direct ballot of a 300-member electoral college made up of MPs and representatives of local government. —Christian Edwards, CNN, 14 Dec. 2024

At the same time, the Federalists’ muscular response to the Fries Rebellion had alienated crucial voters in Pennsylvania, almost certainly costing the party crucial votes in the electoral college. —Joseph Thorndike, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024

Biden eked out an electoral college victory, having campaigned as a moderate, a stabilizer. —Foreign Affairs, 7 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1677, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

electoral college

noun

: a body of electors

especially : one that elects the president and vice president of the U.S.

Legal Definition

electoral college

noun

elec·​tor·​al college

often capitalized E&C

: a body of electors

specifically : the body of electors chosen from each state to elect the president and vice president of the U.S.

Note: Under Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, each state chooses electors in the same number that the state has senators and representatives. In all the states except Maine and Nebraska, the candidate that wins a plurality of the popular votes wins all of the state's electoral votes.