selectively
Americanadverb
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So far, he has applied to approximately 250 jobs, and continues to apply selectively.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
Both critics and defenders of the county’s stewardship draw selectively from annual reports by Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, an independent state agency that helps local educational agencies with management and financial issues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
In that scenario, a hypothetical observer selectively sorts hot and cold particles, apparently reducing entropy and challenging the second law of thermodynamics, which states that entropy naturally increases or remains constant.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 3, 2026
Bloom says he has used a variety of approaches including accounting for distance, economic gravity, the size of the economy and selectively omitting potential outliers.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
He read greedily but understood selectively, choosing the bits and pieces of other men’s ideas that supported whatever predilection he had at the moment.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
