alternative Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen
    option; choice.
    • what option did I have?
    • there no other alternative
    • my only choice is to refuse
  2. adjective satellite serving or used in place of another
    alternate; substitute.
    • an alternative plan
  3. adjective satellite necessitating a choice between mutually exclusive possibilities
    • alternative possibilities were neutrality or war
  4. adjective satellite pertaining to unconventional choices
    • an alternative life style

WordNet

Al*ter"na*tive adjective
Etymology
Cf. F. alternatif.
Definitions
  1. Offering a choice of two things.
  2. Disjunctive; as, an alternative conjunction.
  3. Alternate; reciprocal. Obs. Holland.
Al*ter"na*tive noun
Etymology
Cf. F. alternative, LL. alternativa.
Definitions
  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 th alternatives. Gladstone.

Webster 1913