choice

Noun (1)

choice (countable and uncountable, plural choices)

1. An option; a decision; an opportunity to choose or select something.
   • Do I have a choice of what color to paint it?
   • Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that “nudges” our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they...2012 January, Steven Sloman, “The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2012, page 74

   Synonyms:

   conclusion, opinion, verdict, call, award, censure, decision, deduction, determination, ergotism

2. (uncountable) The power to choose.
   • She didn't leave us much choice.
   • For he is also the political leader of the nation, or has it in his choice to be.1907, Woodrow Wilson, Constitutional Government in the United States, page 68
3. One selection or preference; that which is chosen or decided; the outcome of a decision.
   • The ice cream sundae is a popular choice for dessert.

   Synonyms:

   option, possibility, alternative, contingency

4. Anything that can be chosen.
   • You have three choices: vanilla, strawberry or chocolate.

   Synonyms:

   assortment, range, selection

5. (usually) The best or most preferable part.
   • The flower and choice / Of many provinces from bound to bound.1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 3

   Synonyms:

   the cream

6. (obsolete) Care and judgement in selecting; discrimination, selectiveness.
   • I imagine they [the apothegms of Caesar] were collected with judgment and choice.1625, Francis [Bacon], Apophthegmes New and Old. […], London: […] Hanna Barret, and Richard Whittaker, […], →OCLC
   • We see children perpetually running from place to place to hunt out something new; they catch with great eagerness, and with very little choice, at whatever comes before them; their attention is engaged by every thing, because every thing has, in that stage of life, the charm of novelty to...1757, Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, London: R. & J. Dodsley, Part I, Section I, p. 1
7. (obsolete) A sufficient number to choose among.
   • And, which is more, she is not so divine, / So full replete with choice of all delightsc. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, act 5, scene 5, lines 17–18

   Synonyms:

   abundance, profusion, cornucopia, gold mine, horn of Amalthea, horn of plenty, plethora, treasure trove, wealth

Adjective

choice (comparative choicer or more choice, superlative choicest or most choice)

1. Especially good or preferred.
   • It's a choice location, but you will pay more to live there.
   • This it is, that for ever keeps God’s true princes of the Empire from the world’s hustings; and leaves the highest honors that this air can give, to those men who become famous more through their infinite inferiority to the choice hidden handful of the Divine Inert, than through their undoubted...1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 33, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 162

   Synonyms:

   prime, prize, quality, select, choicy

2. (obsolete) Careful in choosing; discriminating.
   • that such iron moulds as these shall have autority to knaw out the choicest periods of exquisitest books, and to commit such a treacherous fraud against the orphan remainders of worthiest men after death, the more sorrow will belong to that haples race of men, whose misfortune it is to have...1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC
   • Choice word, and measured phrase; above the reach / Of ordinary men; a stately speech;1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence

Interjection

1. (New Zealand, slang) Cool; excellent.
   • "I'm going to the movies." —"Choice!"

Noun (2) capitalized: CHOICE

CHOICE (plural CHOICEs)

1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense
   • This provision permits employees enrolled in a CHOICE arrangement to use a salary reduction to pay for health plan premiums purchased through an Exchange.2025 May, “The One, Big, Beautiful Bill”, in United States House Committee on Ways & Means, page 19

Proper noun capitalized: Choice

Choice

1. A surname.