A person, especially a politician, who has unknowingly been convinced to act to benefit some interest.

(Britain) One who enters an examination without being enrolled as a student at the educational establishment where it is given.

(US) One who is nominated unexpectedly, without previously having been discussed or considered as a likely choice

plural of candid camera

(photography, hyphenated when used attributively) A camera which is concealed or unobtrusive, used to obtain candid photographs of people who usually are unaware; the practice of taking such photos.

(politics, derogatory) A political candidate who is under the control or influence of another person.

(software engineering) A version of a program that is nearly ready for release but may still have a few bugs; the status between beta version and release version.

(computing, databases) In the design of a database table, a column (or an irreducible group of them) able to identify every row of the table. One of the candidate keys (abbreviated CKs) will be the primary key.

plural of candidate key

An election candidate with little chance of winning, who is added to the ballot for publicity and to increase the number standing.