alternative

«alternative» in Mova's school dictionary: another choice or possibility instead of the first one — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (an alternative, alternatives); adjective (alternative)

meaning for a pupil

1) An alternative is another choice or possibility instead of the first one. tree →

2) As an adjective, alternative means different from the usual one, as in «an alternative route». tree →

3) Alternative can describe things outside the mainstream, like alternative music. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life people look for an alternative when the road is closed or a food is not liked. In science, «alternative energy» means sources like wind and solar instead of coal and oil. In maths, an alternative method gives the same answer by a different way. Phrases: an alternative to, have no alternative, alternative route, alternative energy.

examples

• If it rains, the alternative is to play indoors. tree →
• Rice is a good alternative to pasta. tree →
• We took an alternative route because of the traffic. tree →
• Wind and solar are alternative energy sources. tree →
• Try an alternative method to check your answer. tree →
• We had no alternative but to walk home. tree →
• My brother likes alternative rock music. tree →
• The author uses some alternative spellings--for example, "arn't" rather than "aren't", "dulness" rather than "dullness", both "shan't" and "sha'n't"--which have been left unchanged. tree →

note

Countable noun and adjective. Strictly, «alternative» means one of two choices, but now it is used for any number. Do not confuse with «alternate» (every other one, or taking turns). In maths, an alternative method should give the same answer — a good way to check.

In the corpora

• "Alternative facts" means falsehoods, things that are not true.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «alternative» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.