- 1選民（全體有投票權的人）。若指選區，台灣說「選區」，不是這個意思。
The electorate is all the people who have the right to vote. If someone says “the electorate is angry,” they mean the voting public as a group, not one person. Politicians watch the electorate the way a shop watches its customers. In careful talk it is the whole set of voters in a country or area. Though actually, in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, people also use electorate for the area itself that sends one person to parliament — a voting district. That second use is local; the “all the voters” meaning is the one you will meet in almost every textbook and on international news. It is a noun, a little formal. Everyday English often just says “the voters.” It is not the same as an (one person) or an election (the event). One more quiet stretch: writers sometimes say “the conservative electorate” to mean “the voters who usually choose that side,” not every citizen.
From the word’s history
elector + -ate.
由 elector「選民」加 -ate 組成。
組成elector (a person who may vote; older sense also a German prince who helped choose the Holy Roman Emperor) + -ate (makes a noun for a rank, an office, or the people under it).
原始詞典資料3 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
electoratenoun/ɪˈlɛktəɹət/
- 1
governmentpoliticsThe collective people of a country, state, or electoral district who are entitled to vote.
- The votes have been counted and the electorate has spoken.
- Incoming governments normally announce that they will seek to serve the whole electorate. Now, playing out in triplicate across the UK is a "divide and rule" approach to leadership, straight from Donald Trump's playbook: each faction consolidating its base, choosing an enemy and accusing opponents of treason in the hope that in a multiparty system they can win with a minority of votes.
- 2
historicalgovernmentpoliticsThe office, or area of dominion, of an Elector (“a German prince entitled to elect the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire”); an electorship.
- [I]n case Hanover should be attacked on the ground of a German quarrel, unconnected with English politics, we were not bound to defend her; yet, if a power at war with England should think fit to consider that electorate as part of the king's dominions, which perhaps according to the law of nations might be done, our honour must require that it should be defended against such an attack.
- The line of demarcation [between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism] ran, as it still runs, through the midst of the Netherlands, of Germany, and of Switzerland, dividing province from province, electorate from electorate, and canton from canton.
- 3
governmentpoliticsA geographical area represented by one or more elected officials; a constituency, an electoral district.
- The electorate of Finchley borders on the electorate of Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, splitting the new housing estate of Royal Cupolas.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。