Word Direct Answers

elective

elective is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 3 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.Pertaining to, or consisting in, choice, or right of choosing; electoral. The independent use of their elective franchise. Bancroft.
  2. 2.Dependent on choice; bestowed or passing by election; as, an elective study; an elective office. Kings of Rome were at first elective; . . . for such are the conditions of an elective kingdom. Dryden. Elective affinity or attraction (Chem.), a tendency to unite with certain things; chemism.
  3. 3.In an American college, an optional study or course of study. [Colloq.]

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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