option

UK/ˈɒpʃən//ˈɑpʃən/

option noun: one of a set of choices that can be made.

Noun

option (plural options)

One of a set of choices that can be made.
- Luiz struggled with the movement of Helguson in the box, as he collected a long ball and the Spaniard barged him over, leaving referee Chris Foy little option but to point to the spot.2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1 - 0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport
- 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
The freedom or right to choose.
- The marriage had not been contracted by the father, who was apparently dead, but by an agnatic guardian, so that it was liable to cancellation at the option of the girl on her attaining puberty.1895, Roland Knyvet Wilson, A Digest of Anglo-Muhammadan Law
A contract giving the holder the right to buy or sell an asset at a set strike price; can apply to financial market transactions, or to ordinary transactions for tangible assets such as a residence or automobile.
- There's a book out on us and there's gonna be a movie based on the book. ABC has bought the option for a movie to be made specially for T.V.1977 August 13, Pala Bennett, Mary Jo Risher, Ann Foreman, “"I'm A Mother, And I'm A Good One."”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 6, page 8
(uncountable) The acquiring or retention of a nationality through personal choice as a right, bypassing selective legal mechanisms for naturalization, especially in cases where a territory is transferred or passed on from one state to another.
- At that time every emigrant who was made aware of such a notification submitted his application for option to the British Consuls within the period prescribed.1928, Appeal to the Noble English Nation by the Committee of the Defenders of the Rights of Palestinian Arab Emigrants to the Palestinian Citizenship, page 10
- A right of option, mostly in favour of the nationality of the predecessor State, has been accorded in most cases of partial State succession, either by treaty or by domestic legislation.1998, Venice Commission, Consequences of State Succession for Nationality, →ISBN, page 45

Verb

option (third-person singular simple present options, present participle optioning, simple past and past participle optioned)

To purchase an option on something.
- The new novel was optioned by the film studio, but they'll probably never decide to make a movie from it.
(dated) To configure, by setting an option.
- The device that is to echo the characters should be optioned for echoplexing.1991, Martin D. Seyer, RS-232 made easy

option meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

option in Hindi

one of the choices that can be made: विकल्प vikalp

option in Tamil

விருப்பத் தெரிவு, விருப்புரிமை, இடப்பு, யாவை, வழிவகை, கல்வி கற்கும் மாணவர்களுக்கு

option in Marathi

one of the choices that can be made: विकल्प vikalpa, पर्याय paryāy

option in Urdu

one of the choices that can be made: اِخْتِیار ixtiyār

More languagesFewer languages

option in Bengali: পছন্দ, পছন্দ করিবার ক্ষমতা, অভিলাষ, অভিরুচি
option in Telugu: ఆప్షన్
option in Malayalam: ഐശ്ചികം, ഒരാളുടെ ഇഷ്ടപ്രകാരം തിരഞ്ഞെടുക്കാവുന്നത്, ഹിതം, താത്പര്യം
option in Kannada: ಆಯ್ಕೆ, ಆಯುವುದು, ಇಚ್ಛೆ, ಅಭಿರುಚಿ
option in Punjabi: اجازت ījāzat
option in Gujarati: વિકલ્પ
option in Arabic: خِيَار m اِخْتِيَار ḵiyār
option in Malay: pilihan
option in Indonesian: pilihan, opsi
option in Persian: گُزینِه gozine, اِنتِخاب entexâb, اِختِیار extiyâr
option in Thai: ตัวเลือก dtuua-lʉ̂ʉak, ทางเลือก taang-lʉ̂ʉak
option in Vietnamese: lựa chọn

Examples of option in a sentence

This is the standard model, but we offer a variety of customization options.
Tommy's blind was live, so he was given the option to raise.
In all this universe of possibilities, there is only one feasible option.

All 40 example sentences with option

Synonyms of option

Forms of option

Noun
plural	options
Verb
third-person singular present	options
present participle	optioning
past participle	optioned
past	optioned

Plural of option: options

Origin of option

From French option, from Latin optiō (“choice; option; act of choosing”), from optō (“to choose, select”). Equivalent to opt + -ion.

Words formed from option

Phrases with option

Questions about option

What does option mean?: Option means one of a set of choices that can be made.
What is option in Hindi?: Option in Hindi is विकल्प (vikalp). See Option meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is option?: Option can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce option?: Option is pronounced /ˈɒpʃən/ (UK).
What is the plural of option?: The plural of option is options.

Words near option in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: option (page history and authors); option (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); option (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); option (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); option (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); option (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); اجازت (Punjabi) (page history and authors); option (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-option.ogg.

Cite this entry: “option.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/option. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.