What does eligible mean?
Eligible is an adjective meaning qualified or entitled to be chosen, to take part in something, or to receive a benefit. A person who meets the age, residency, or other requirements to vote is eligible to vote; an applicant who satisfies a program's criteria is eligible for funding. The word carries no strong emotional connotation — it signals conformity with stated conditions rather than excellence — which makes it a staple of formal, legal, and administrative language, from insurance policies to election law. It pairs most naturally with the prepositions "for" and "to" and with nouns like candidate, voter, applicant, and participant. A secondary, more colorful sense describes a person seen as a desirable marriage prospect, surviving chiefly in the phrase "eligible bachelor," a usage dating back centuries when marriage among the gentry was a matter of careful selection. Derived forms include eligibility, eligibly, and the important negative ineligible, meaning not qualified. The word traces back through French and late Middle English to the Latin eligere, "to pick out or choose," making it a cousin of words like elect, select, and elite — a fitting ancestry for a word fundamentally about being choosable.
Qualified or entitled to be chosen, to participate, or to receive something; meeting the necessary requirements.
"Applicants must be eligible under the new residency rules before their cases will be reviewed."
Regarded as a desirable partner in marriage; suitable as a spouse.
"The young duke was considered one of the most eligible men in England."
An "eligible bachelor" was once literally a man worth electing — the word comes from the Latin eligere, "to pick out," the same root that gives us "elite."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of eligible
Eligible entered English in the early 15th century via Old French éligible, deriving ultimately from the Latin verb eligere, meaning "to pick out, choose, or select." Eligere itself combines e- (ex-, "out") with legere ("to gather, choose"), the same root behind elect, select, elite, and elegant. The sense of being worthy or suitable for choice developed naturally from this notion of selection, and by the early 17th century the word was also applied to persons considered desirable in marriage.
Related word forms
How eligible is actually used
Eligible is neutral-to-formal in register and common in administrative, legal, sporting, and electoral contexts. It typically takes the prepositions "for" (eligible for a benefit) or "to" plus an infinitive (eligible to vote). The figurative sense describing desirable marriage prospects is somewhat dated or playful in modern usage but still widely understood, especially in the fixed phrase "eligible bachelor."
Easily confused with eligible
Legible means readable or clear enough to read (of handwriting or text), while eligible means qualified or entitled to something.
Illegible means too unclear or messy to be read, whereas ineligible means not meeting the requirements for something.