alternative

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English

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alternative

From Middle French alternatif, from Medieval Latin alternātīvus (“alternating”), from the participle stem of Latin alternō (“interchange, alternate”). Compare alternate.

alternative (not comparable)

Relating to a choice between two or more possibilities.
an alternative proposition
- 1911, “Phillips v. Rohrer”, in Penn State Law Review, volume 16, →OCLC, page 46:
  Reason would seem to dictate that it was an alternative offer,—either to receive $15,000 if the grantor perform the condition or $12,000 if he did not perform the condition.
- 2014, C.A. Longhurst, Unamuno's Theory of the Novel‎, Routledge, →ISBN, page 162:
  Who is right, Augusto or Unamuno? In general critics have seen this confrontation as offering an alternative choice: either we are free or we are predetermined.
1. (linguistics) Presenting two or more alternatives.
  Synonym: disjunctive
  
  alternative conjunctions like or
Other; different from something else.
Not traditional, outside the mainstream, underground.
alternative medicine; alternative lifestyle; alternative rock
(obsolete) Alternate, reciprocal.
- 1601, Pliny the Elder, “Of the seuen Planets”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The History of the World Commonly Called the Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus, translation of Naturalis Historia (in Classical Latin), page 3:
  He [the Sun] it is that giveth light to all things, and riddeth them from darkneſſe : hee hideth the other ſtarres, and ſheweth them againe : he ordereth the ſeaſons in their alternative courſe : he tempereth the yeere, ariſing ever freſh and new againe, for the benefite and good of the world.

relating to a choice

(linguistics) presenting two or more alternatives

other

not traditional, outside the mainstream, underground

alternative (plural alternatives)

A situation which allows a mutually exclusive choice between two or more possibilities; a choice between two or more possibilities.
- 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], “”, in Rob Roy. , volume I, Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. ; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 268:
  “The cloister or a betrothed husband?” I echoed—“Is that the alternative destined for Miss Vernon?”
One of several mutually exclusive things which can be chosen.
- 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison‎:
  Between these alternatives there is no middle ground. The Constitution is either a superior, paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, and, like other acts, is alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it.
The remaining option; something available after other possibilities have been exhausted.
(uncountable, music) alternative rock
A non-offensive word or phrase that serves as a replacement for a word deemed offensive or unacceptable, though not as a euphemism.
Disability activists discourage the use of the words "crazy" and "insane" due to their negative connections to mental health, suggesting alternatives such as "wild", "silly", or "out of this world", which do not relate to mental health.