Shortlisted

How to spell shortlisted

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce shortlisted

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does shortlisted mean?

1. verbSelected as one of a small final group of candidates from a larger field, for a job, prize, or contract.
2. adjectiveDescribing a person or entry that is on a final reduced list of candidates.

Shortlisted in a sentence

• verb

  Three architects were shortlisted for the museum commission.

• adjective

  Each shortlisted applicant received a formal invitation to interview.

• verb

  Her novel was shortlisted for the national fiction prize.

• adjective

  The shortlisted designs were displayed in the lobby for staff to review.

Where does shortlisted come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is a modern English compound formed from two very old native words. 'Short' descends from Old English 'sceort', meaning 'not long', a thoroughly Germanic word with relatives across the old northern languages. 'List' in the sense of a written series of names comes from Old French 'liste' and ultimately from a Germanic root meaning a strip, edge, or border, the same root that gave the textile term 'selvage'. The phrase 'short list', meaning a reduced roll of the strongest candidates drawn from a longer field, took hold in British administrative and hiring language during the early twentieth century. From that noun phrase English coined the verb 'to shortlist', and 'shortlisted' is simply its past form, describing a candidate who has been placed on that final reduced list.

How the word is built

• short (brief, small)
• list (a roll of names or items)
• -ed (past tense / past participle suffix)