FluentPlex

alternative

/ɔlˈtɝ.nə.tɪv/ noun B1
  1. A situation which allows a mutually exclusive choice between two or more possibilities; a choice between two or more possibilities. · I gave you the alternative; you decided to stay.
  2. One of several mutually exclusive things which can be chosen.
  3. The remaining option; something available after other possibilities have been exhausted.
  4. alternative rock (uncountable)
  5. A non-offensive word or phrase that serves as a replacement for a word deemed offensive or unacceptable, though not as a euphemism.

Plural alternatives

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From the library

The last alternative seemed the most prudent, so he waited until twelve o’clock.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 1075 · C1
“You will observe, Watson, the alternative use of the long s and the short.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, p. 9 · C1
I knew that seclusion and solitude were very necessary for my friend in those hours of intense mental concentration during which he weighed every particle of evidence, constructed alternative theories, balanced one against the other, and made up his mind as to which points were essential and which immaterial.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, p. 30 · C1
Mortimer, for introducing me to a problem which presents several interesting alternatives.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, p. 42 · C1

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Words, meanings, pronunciations and translations from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); how common each word is from wordfreq. Made into this dictionary by FluentPlex.