What does nominator mean?
A nominator is someone who formally proposes another person for an office, appointment, award, or similar honour. The nominator may be required to submit supporting information, explain the candidate's qualifications, or simply record the nomination according to an organization's rules. The word is especially associated with elections, professional appointments, prize schemes, and institutional selection processes. It should not be confused with a nominee, who is the person being proposed, or with a nominator in the grammatical sense of a noun naming an office holder; that older sense is now rare. Although 'nominator' is grammatically straightforward and related to 'nominate' and 'nomination', everyday speakers often use 'candidate' or 'nominee' instead. Its distinctive usefulness is that it identifies the person performing the act of formal proposal rather than the person being considered.
nounA person who formally nominates someone for an office, position, award, or other distinction.
- A person who nominates another person for an office, role, award, or similar distinction.
- A person authorized to submit or propose a candidate for selection or appointment.
"Each club member was allowed to act as a nominator for the annual award."
"The nominator must submit the candidate's details before the closing date."
"As the award's nominator, she explained why her colleague deserved the honour."
The plural is formed by adding -s; 'nominators' refers to multiple people who make formal nominations.
"The two nominators submitted their forms before the deadline."
A nominator does more than suggest a name: they formally put someone forward for consideration.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does nominator come from?
The word comes from Latin nominator, an agent noun formed from nominare, meaning 'to name' or 'to call by a name'. English 'nominate' developed from the same Latin verb, while 'nominal', 'nomination', and 'nominalist' belong to the same wider Latin root. The modern sense of a person making a nomination developed from the earlier sense of naming or designating a person for a position.
Related word forms
How nominator is actually used
The word is formal and relatively uncommon in everyday speech; it is most often used in organizational, political, or award contexts. In general discussion, 'nominee' and 'candidate' are usually more frequent than 'nominator'.
Easily confused with nominator
A nominator proposes or puts forward someone for a position or distinction, whereas a nominee is the person being proposed.
A nominator is a person who makes a nomination, while nominative is a grammatical term referring to the case of nouns and pronouns.