alternatively

American  

[awl-tur-nuh-tiv-lee, al-] / ɔlˈtɜr nə tɪv li, æl- /

adverb

1. as another choice or option.

   At the end of the unit, each group of students writes a book review or, alternatively, acts out a short scene from the book.

2. in a nonstandard, novel, or unconventional manner or style.

   We found significant differences between the traditionally and alternatively certified teachers with regard to classroom experience.

   You are not automatically more creative just because you're in an alternatively decorated meeting room.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• quasi-alternatively
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of alternatively

alternative + -ly

Example Sentences

Mr. Charles’s interest in alternatively abled people, or people who can do special things, that interest has long tentacles.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

One vendor sold t-shirts with captions proclaiming “LEGEND” alternatively accompanying pictures of Charlie Kirk or, for some reason, Andy Griffith and Don Knotts together in costume from The Andy Griffith Show.

From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026

One almost gets a sense that the great doers of history were like robots, temporarily inhabited by an otherworldly spiritual force or, alternatively, were stick figures that Hegel moved about on his grandiose world-historical tableau.

From Salon • Mar. 28, 2026

"Let police know where he's currently located or alternatively drop Mr Baghsarian off at a shopping centre or an emergency department or even a nursing home," he appealed to the kidnappers.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026

Children’s knowledge of how to use a tool could be a result of their experience with the tool; alternatively, it could be a result of their perceiving the tool’s affordances from shape and manipulability cues.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Related Words

• sooner
• willingly