Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use alternative in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Alternative means relating to a choice between two or more possibilities. Example: “There are two alternative theories as to why this phenomenon occurs.”

Examples of alternative by meaning

adjectiveRelating to a choice between two or more possibilities.

  • an alternative proposition
  • There are two alternative theories as to why this phenomenon occurs.
  • Reason would seem to dictate that it was an alternative offer,—either to receive $15,000 if the grantor perform the condition or $12,000 if he did not perform the condition.1911, “Phillips v. Rohrer”, in Penn State Law Review, volume 16, →OCLC, page 46

adjectivePresenting two or more alternatives.

  • alternative conjunctions like or

adjectiveOther; different from something else.

  • Exploring alternative realities isn't just a game for boys.2011 May 11, Sam Leith, “Sam Leith's top 10 alternative realities”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2021

adjectiveNot traditional, outside the mainstream, underground.

  • alternative medicine; alternative lifestyle; alternative rock

nounA situation which allows a mutually exclusive choice between two or more possibilities; a choice between two or more...

  • I gave you the alternative; you decided to stay.

nounA non-offensive word or phrase that serves as a replacement for a word deemed offensive or unacceptable, though not as...

  • Disability activists discourage the use of the words "crazy" and "insane" due to their negative connections to mental health, suggesting alternatives such as "wild", "silly", or "out of this world", which do not relate to mental health.

More sentences with alternative

  • Broadcasting live at a frequency of 98.3 megahertz, we’re your rock alternative!From the entry frequency
  • The committee has been exploring alternative solutions to the problem at hand.From the entry explore
  • Since getting divorced, I’ve been going to bathhouses because I’m interested in exploring an alternative lifestyle.From the entry alternative lifestyle
  • Cloisonne is sometimes seen as a cheaper alternative to jewelled encrustation or filigree.From the entry cloisonne
  • I'm not wedded to this proposal; suggest an alternative.From the entry wed
  • There's a cute alternative proof of this using lambda calculus.From the entry cute
  • In discussing alternatives to the polar extremes, Professor Nguyen mentioned two poles of a filthy floor versus a sterile surgical site.From the entry pole
  • The U.K. government is dusting off an alternative plan to site the center at a military outfit such as Porton Down.From the entry site
  • He provides us with an alternative option.From the entry provide
  • We have to get people out of their cars and encourage them to use alternative forms of transportation.From the entry transportation
  • This building would suit alternative uses STP.From the entry STP
  • The herbal treatment served as an incruental alternative to surgery.From the entry incruental
  • The alternative to live-weight pricing is dressed-weight or carcass-weight pricing.From the entry live weight
  • I get a feeling Kurt Cobain is looking down on Nickelback and wondering what alternative rock has become.From the entry look down on
  • Always forseek alternative ways to do pretty much anything.From the entry forseek
  • In the event that you are unable to attend the meeting as scheduled, please propose an alternative date and time.From the entry in the event that
  • That Newton was an empirical scientist is a fact. An alternative fact is that he was an alchemist.From the entry alternative fact
  • I had to make do with a second-best alternative.From the entry second best
  • IaaS is an alternative to on-premises computing infrastructure.From the entry on-premises
  • The decision to use 18 years as the legal age of adulthood was arbitrary, as both age 17 and 19 were reasonable alternatives.From the entry arbitrary
  • Granting monopolies in concession constitutes a market-conform alternative to taxation for the state, while the crown sometimes bestowed a monopoly as an outrageous gift.From the entry monopoly
  • Our live stream is available in all territories excluding those listed below, but you can watch the game courtesy of these alternative broadcasters.From the entry courtesy of
  • Variolation is no longer used today. It was replaced by smallpox vaccination, a safer alternative, which in turn led to the development of vaccines against many other diseases.From the entry variolation
  • As an alternative, I suggest that source code abstractions are virtualisations of metaphors.2026, Michael Falk, “Wikilambda the ultimate: the Wikimedia foundation’s search for the perfect language”, in AI & Society: Knowledge…. From the entry nub
  • And if you want to change the world, it helps first to have an alternative.2025 September 11, Kate Marvel, “‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster”, in The Guardian. From the entry go the way of
  • “The fact is, they stopped playing alternative female voices on the radio,” Ms.2025 June 2, Lizzy Goodman, quoting Shirley Manson, “Shirley Manson, the Unexpected Godmother of Rock”, in The New York Times, →ISSN…. From the entry Los Feliz
  • Eskayan), alternative languages (Brithenig and Wenedyk), micronational languages (Talossan) and personal languages (e.g.2024 August 8, Paolo Coluzzi, “Esperanto, Klingon and Toki Pona: evaluating non-speaker perceptions of the orthographic and phonological…. From the entry micronational language
  • I'm currently looking into no piercing alternatives to a prince Albert cages.2024 June 18, u/cismalesexadventure, r/chastitytraining (Reddit post), archived from the original on 12 Nov 2025. From the entry Prince Albert cage
  • It was, in short, a who's who of woo—alternative health, women's wellness, and spirit-infused diet and fitness.2023, Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN. From the entry woo
  • Neither man has an alternative career in audiobook narration awaiting him upon retirement.2023 August 8, Janan Ganesh, “The oneness of Ron DeSantis and Rishi Sunak”, in Financial Times. From the entry adenoidal
  • An alternative term to 'woke' that has utility as a historical place marker is 'the successor ideology'.2023, Rafael Behr, Politics: A Survivor's Guide. From the entry successor ideology
  • The trainer tells Carson about "bromeopathy"", or alternative medicine for men "who don't trust mainstream information".2022 May 1, Simon Usborne, “Dude, this 'bromeopathy' is the nuts”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original…. From the entry bromeopathy

Meaning of alternative

  1. adjective Relating to a choice between two or more possibilities.
  2. adjective Presenting two or more alternatives.
  3. adjective Other; different from something else.

Full definition of alternative

Questions about alternative in a sentence

How do you use alternative in a sentence?
Alternative is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “There are two alternative theories as to why this phenomenon occurs.”
What is a short sentence with alternative?
“an alternative proposition”
What does alternative mean?
Alternative means relating to a choice between two or more possibilities.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: alternative (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use alternative in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/alternative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.