alternative : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: alternative	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for alternative
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
alternative adj serving or used in place of another; "an alternative plan" Synonym(s): alternate, alternative, substitute necessitating a choice between mutually exclusive possibilities; "alternative possibilities were neutrality or war" 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" Synonym(s): option, alternative, choice
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Alternative \Alter"native\, a. [Cf. F. alternatif.] 1. Offering a choice of two things. 2. Disjunctive; as, an alternative conjunction. 3. Alternate; reciprocal. [Obs.] --Holland.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Alternative \Alter"native\, 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. 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.