alternative

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   necessitating a choice between mutually exclusive possibilities

   alternative possibilities were neutrality or war

2. 2
   adj

   pertaining to unconventional choices

   an alternative life style

3. 3
   adj

   serving or used in place of another

   an alternative plan

4. 4
   adj

   Relating to a choice between two or more possibilities.

   an alternative proposition

5. 5
   adj

   Other; different from something else.

   Exploring alternative realities isn't just a game for boys. In 1666, Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle, published a utopian fantasy of compelling strangeness.

6. 6
   adj

   Not traditional, outside the mainstream, underground.

   alternative medicine; alternative lifestyle; alternative rock

7. 7
   adj

   Alternate, reciprocal.

   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.

8. 8
   noun

   A situation which allows a mutually exclusive choice between two or more possibilities; a choice between two or more possibilities.

   “The cloister or a betrothed husband?” I echoed—“Is that the alternative destined for Miss Vernon?”

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos Proto-Italic *aljos Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Italic *-teros Proto-Italic *aliteros Latin alter Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Latin -nus Latin alternus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin alternō Latin alternātus Proto-Indo-European *-wósder. Latin -īvus Latin alternātīvusder. Middle French alternatifbor. English alternative From Middle French alternatif, from Medieval Latin alternātīvus (“alternat…