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

His nomination is expected to succeed due to the ruling party's dominance over the electoral college. —Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2024

With this race so close and the electoral college poised to play a defining role yet again, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have spent the last few weeks bouncing between Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and more. —R29 Team, refinery29.com, 6 Nov. 2024

Trump did amass a sizable victory in the electoral college, and swept to victories across the nation’s swing states. —Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 20 Jan. 2025

Trump won the popular vote and the electoral college in November despite two assassination attempts during the campaign, two presidential impeachments during his previous administration and a criminal conviction in New York. —Nollyanne Delacruz, The Mercury News, 18 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1677, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for electoral college

• acknowledge
• precollege
• foreknowledge
• haulage
• knowledge

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.