Some common synonyms of alternative are choice, election, option, preference, and selection. While all these words mean the act or opportunity of choosing or the thing chosen, alternative implies a need to choose one and reject another possibility. Free, open-source CleanMyMac alternative for macOS. Native SwiftUI cleaner with app uninstaller, disk analyzer, duplicate finder, Xcode/Docker cleanup, Apple Intelligence and zero telemetry. A wealthy student has the choice of going to a public school, or the alternative, a private school. Alternative can also refer to a different way of doing things, outside the norm. The meaning of ALTERNATIVE is offering or expressing a choice. How to use alternative in a sentence. Synonym Discussion of Alternative. / ɒlˈtɜː.nə.tɪv / B2 something that is different from something else, especially from what is usual, and offering the possibility of choice: an alternative to an alternative to coffee ALTERNATIVE definition: a choice limited to one of two or more possibilities, as of things, propositions, or courses of action, the selection of which precludes any other possibility. See examples of alternative used in a sentence. alternative (not comparable) Relating to a choice between two or more possibilities. quotations / ɑːlˈtɝː.nə.t̬ɪv / B2 something that is different from something else, especially from what is usual, and offering the possibility of choice: an alternative to an alternative to coffee Alt porn, a shortening of alternative pornography, is a subgenre of pornography that is centered around alternative subcultures, such as goths, hipsters, emos, scenes, skaters or ravers, and is often produced by small and independent websites or filmmakers · As an adjective, alternative can mean allowing or requiring a choice between two or more things, as in We wrote an alternative statement in case the first was rejected by the board.