different between alternative vs akin

English

Etymology

From Middle French alternatif, from Medieval Latin altern?t?vus (“alternating”), from the participle stem of Latin altern? (“interchange, alternate”). Compare alternate.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l.?t??(?).n?.t?v/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?l.?t?.n?.t?v/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /?l.?t?.n?.t?v/

Adjective

alternative (not comparable)

1. Relating to a choice between two or more possibilities.
   1. (linguistics) Presenting two or more alternatives.

      Synonym: disjunctive

2. Other; different from something else.
3. Not traditional, outside the mainstream, underground.

   alternative medicine; alternative lifestyle; alternative rock

4. (obsolete) Alternate, reciprocal.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

alternative (plural alternatives)

1. A situation which allows a mutually exclusive choice between two or more possibilities; a choice between two or more possibilities. [from 17th c.]
   • 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy, XI:

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

2. One of several mutually exclusive things which can be chosen. [from 17th c.]
   • 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison^[1]:

     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.

3. The remaining option; something available after other possibilities have been exhausted. [from 18th c.]
4. (uncountable, music) alternative rock

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:option

Translations

See also

• variant

References

• alternative in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• alternative in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alterna?tive/
• Rhymes: -ive

Adverb

alternative

1. alternatively

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al.t??.na.tiv/
• Homophone: alternatives

Adjective

alternative

1. feminine singular of alternatif

Noun

alternative f (plural alternatives)

1. alternative

Further reading

• “alternative” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

alternative

1. inflection of alternativ:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ive

Adjective

alternative

1. feminine plural of alternativo

Noun

alternative f

1. plural of alternativa

Anagrams

• alternatevi

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /al.ter.na??ti?.u?e/, [ä??t??rnä??t?i?u??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /al.ter.na?ti.ve/, [?l?t??rn??t?i?v?]

Adjective

altern?t?ve

1. vocative masculine singular of altern?t?vus

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

alternative

1. inflection of alternativ:
   1. definite singular
   2. plural

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

alternative

1. inflection of alternativ:
   1. definite singular
   2. plural

Swedish

Adjective

alternative

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of alternativ.

English

Etymology

From a corruption of of kin, from Middle English of kyn (“related, of kin”), equivalent to a- +? kin (1550s). Compare Old English cyn, cynn (“akin, proper, suitable”, adj.).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??k?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??k?n/

Adjective

akin (comparative more akin, superlative most akin)

1. (of persons) Of the same kin; related by blood.
   • 1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, ch. 23:

     We are too near akin to lie together, though we may lodge near one another.

   • 1897, Joseph Conrad, The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’, ch. 2:

     The faces changed, passing in rotation. Youthful faces, bearded faces, dark faces: faces serene, or faces moody, but all akin with the brotherhood of the sea.

2. (often followed by to) Allied by nature; similar; partaking of the same properties; of the same kind.
   • 1677, Theophilus Gale, The Court of the Gentiles, T. Cockeril, part 4, bk. 1, ch. 2, p. 27:

     Is not then Fruition near akin to Love?

   • 1710, anon., "To the Spectator, &c.," The Spectator, vol. 1, no. 8 (March 9), p. 39:

     She told me that she hoped my Face was not akin to my Tongue.

   • 1837, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, ch. 39:

     Mr. Winkle . . . took his hand with a feeling of regard, akin to veneration.

   • 1910, Zane Grey, "Old Well-Well," Success (July):

     Something akin to a smile shone on his face.

Usage notes

• This adjective is always placed after the noun that it modifies.

Synonyms

• (related by blood): See also Thesaurus:consanguine
• (of the same kind): See also Thesaurus:akin

Derived terms

• unakin

Related terms

• consanguine

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Inka, Kian, Naik, kain, kina, naik

Hungarian

Etymology

aki +? -n

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [??kin]
• Hyphenation: akin

Pronoun

akin

1. superessive singular of aki

Tagalog

Determiner

akin

1. my

Pronoun

akin

1. (possessive) mine

See also