Alternative \Al*ter"na*tive\, a. [Cf. F. alternatif.]
1. Offering a choice of two things.
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2. Disjunctive; as, an alternative conjunction.
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3. Alternate; reciprocal. [Obs.] --Holland.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Alternative \Al*ter"na*tive\, n. [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.
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There is something else than the mere alternative of
absolute destruction or unreformed existence.
--Burke.
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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.
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Having to choose between two alternatives, safety
and war, you obstinately prefer the worse. --Jowett
(Thucyd.).
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3. The course of action or the thing offered in place of
another.
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If this demand is refused the alternative is war.
--Lewis.
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With no alternative but death. --Longfellow.
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4. A choice between more than two things; one of several
things offered to choose among.
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My decided preference is for the fourth and last of
these alternatives. --Gladstone.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
alternative
adj 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"
n : 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]
WordNet (r) 2.0
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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
ALTERNATIVE. The one or the other of two things. In contracts a party has
frequently the choice to perform one of several things, as, if he is bound
to pay one hundred dollars, or to deliver a horse, he has the alternative.
Vide Election; Obligation; Alternative.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
alternate, choice, mutually exclusive, option
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