word choice - "Unselect" or "Deselect"?


If I want the user to revert their operation of selecting an item, should I say: "Unselect the option" or "Deselect the option"?



Answer



Dictionaries (Merriam-Webster and New Oxford American Dictionary) have deselect but not unselect. The NOAD defines deselect as “turn off (a selected feature) on a list of options on a computer menu”, which is what you want.


Unselected, on the other hand, is used to qualify something that has not been selected, not something that was selected and isn't anymore.


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