different between alternative vs alternativity

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

alternative +? -ity

Noun

alternativity (uncountable)

1. A characteristic of something having alternative connotations, akin to the representation of choice between two or more possibilities.
2. (mathematics) A term of magma used to describe identifiable properties in an algebraic structure.
3. The tendency to pursue an alternative, especially when the previous solution is less available or less desirable.

Related terms

• alternativeness
• alternativism
• alternaticity

Translations