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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Alternative \Al*ter"na*tive\, adjective [Cf. F. alternatif.]
1. Offering a choice of two things.
2. Disjunctive; as, an alternative conjunction.
3. Alternate; reciprocal. [Obs.] --Holland.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Alternative \Al*ter"na*tive\, noun [Cf. F. alternative, LL. alternativa.]
1. An offer of two things, one of which may be chosen, but not both; a choice between two things, so that if one is taken, the other must be left.
There is something else than the mere alternative of absolute destruction or unreformed existence. --Burke.
2. Either of two things or propositions offered to one's choice. Thus when two things offer a choice of one only, the two things are called {alternatives}.
Having to choose between two alternatives, safety and war, you obstinately prefer the worse. --Jowett (Thucyd.).
3. The course of action or the thing offered in place of another.
If this demand is refused the alternative is war. --Lewis.
With no alternative but death. --Longfellow.
4. A choice between more than two things; one of several things offered to choose among.
My decided preference is for the fourth and last of these alternatives. --Gladstone.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
alternative
adjective
1: allowing a choice; "an alternative plan" [syn: {alternate}]
2: necessitating a choice between mutually exclusive possibilities; "'either' and 'or' in 'either this or that'" [syn: {mutually exclusive}]
3: pertaining to unconventional choices; "an alternative life style"
noun: one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen; "what option did I have?"; "there no other alternative"; "my only choice is to refuse" [syn: {option}, {choice}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
102 Moby Thesaurus words for "alternative": additional, agent, alternate, alternate choice, analogy, another, attainable, backup, change, changeling, choice, comparison, contingency, copy, counterfeit, deputy, different, discretion, discretional, disjunctive, double, druthers, dummy, election, elective, equal, equivalent, ersatz, escape clause, escape hatch, exchange, exchangeable, fake, fill-in, ghost, ghostwriter, imitation, interchangeable, locum tenens, loophole, makeshift, metaphor, metonymy, mock, next best thing, option, optional, optionality, personnel, phony, pinch, pinch hitter, pleasure, possibility, possible choice, preference, pretext, provisional, proxy, relief, replacement, replacing, representative, reserve, reserves, ringer, saving clause, second string, secondary, selection, sign, spare, spares, stand-in, stopgap, sub, substituent, substitute, substitution, succedaneum, superseder, supplanter, surrogate, symbol, synecdoche, temporary, tentative, third string, token, understudy, utility, utility player, variant, vicar, vicarious, vice-president, vice-regent, volitional, voluntary, way of escape, way out, will and pleasure
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |