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Definition of alternative adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

alternative

adjective
 OPAL W
 
/ɔːlˈtɜːnətɪv/
 
/ɔːlˈtɜːrnətɪv/
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  1.  
    (also alternate especially in North American English)
    [only before noun] that can be used instead of something else
    • The road was closed so we had to find an alternative route.
    • Can you offer an alternative explanation?
    • an alternative method of working
    • Do you have an alternative solution?
  2.  
     [usually before noun] different from the usual or traditional way in which something is done
    • alternative therapy/treatments
    • an alternative lifestyle
    • Medicine made of mould must once have seemed very alternative.
    3. Word Originmid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘alternating, alternate’): from French alternatif, -ive or medieval Latin alternativus, from Latin alternare ‘interchange’, from alternus ‘every other’, from alter ‘other’.
See alternative in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee alternative in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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