From Middle French alternatif, from Medieval Latin alternātīvus, from the participle stem of Latin alternō.

• (British) IPA: /ɒl.ˈtɜː(ɹ).nə.tɪv/
• (America) IPA: /ɔl.ˈtɝ.nə.tɪv/
• (cot-caught) IPA: /ɑl.ˈtɝ.nə.tɪv/

alternative (not comparable)

1. Relating to a choice between two or more possibilities.

   an alternative proposition

   1. (linguistics) Presenting two or more alternatives.

      Synonyms: disjunctive

      alternative conjunctions like or

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

   alternative medicine; alternative lifestyle; alternative rock

4. (obsolete) Alternate, reciprocal.

• French: alternatif
• German: alternativ
• Italian: alternativo
• Portuguese: alternativo
• Russian: альтернати́вный
• Spanish: alternativo

• French: autre
• German: alternativ
• Italian: alternativo
• Portuguese: alternativo
• Russian: альтернати́вный

• Portuguese: alternativo
• Spanish: alternativo

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 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter [XI], in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC ↗, page 268 ↗:

     “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:

     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
5. A non-offensive word or phrase that serves as a replacement for a word deemed offensive or unacceptable, though not as a euphemism.

   Disability activists discourage the use of the words "crazy" and "insane" due to their negative connections to mental health, suggesting alternatives such as "wild", "silly", or "out of this world", which do not relate to mental health.

• Synonyms: Thesaurus:option

• different or opposing

• French: alternative
• German: Alternative
• Italian: alternativa
• Portuguese: alternativa
• Russian: альтернати́ва
• Spanish: alternativa

• French: alternative
• German: Alternative
• Italian: alternativa
• Portuguese: alternativa
• Russian: альтернати́ва
• Spanish: alternativa