elective
adjective
elec·tive
| \ i-ˈlek-tiv
\
\
Definition of elective
(Entry 1 of 2)
1a
: chosen or filled by popular election
an elective official
b
: of or relating to election
c
: based on the right or principle of election
the presidency is an elective office
2a
: permitting a choice : optional
an elective course in school
b(1)
: relating to, being, or involving a nonemergency medical procedure and especially surgery that is planned in advance and is not essential to the survival of the patient
elective hip surgery elective tonsillectomy elective cosmetic procedures
(2)
: offering or specializing in nonemergency medical procedures and especially surgery
an elective surgical unit
(3)
: relating to or being a patient receiving a nonemergency medical procedure
elective orthopedic patients
3a
: tending to operate on one substance rather than another
elective absorption
b
: favorably inclined to one more than to another : sympathetic
an elective affinity
elective
nounDefinition of elective (Entry 2 of 2)
: an elective course or subject
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Synonyms & Antonyms for elective
Synonyms: Adjective
discretionary, optional, voluntary
Antonyms: Adjective
compulsory, mandatory, nonelective, nonvoluntary, obligatory, required
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Examples of elective in a Sentence
Adjective
He's never held an elective office. Plastic surgery is elective surgery. She took three elective courses last term.Noun
She's taking several electives this year.
Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
Women are more likely to run for elective office for the right reasons too. — Caitlin Moscatello, Time, "Vote for the Woman Because She’s a Woman," 22 Aug. 2019 Editor’s note: This story was updated to include changes that are proposed for the rules for candidates to seek elective office. — Robert Higgs, cleveland.com, "Cleveland voters to decide fate of three charter changes on ballot for November election," 22 Aug. 2019 Newman was an aide to San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan in the 1990s, and the 2016 race for the seat of a termed-out Republican was his first try for elective office. — John Wildermuth, SFChronicle.com, "Could Democrats own Orange County? This 2020 race is key," 19 July 2019 Lewis said he was inspired to seek elective office by his brother, Jesse Lewis, who was one of 20 first graders killed in the Dec. 14, 2012 school shooting. — Daniela Altimari, courant.com, "JT Lewis, brother of Sandy Hook victim Jesse Lewis, is running for state Senate," 15 July 2019 San Francisco billionaire jumps into crowded 2020 presidential race with almost no national name recognition and no experience holding elective office. — Bay Area News Group, The Mercury News, "Latest line: Crime rate falls, Swalwell drops out," 14 July 2019 New social studies elective courses on the Bible will also be available for the coming school year for students in grades six through 12. — al.com, "Here are the changes Alabama lawmakers made to schools this year," 22 June 2019 The idea is to enable students taking elective courses to study the Bible as literature, not as devotional material. — Fox News, "Kentucky board of education OKs Bible literacy standards," 7 June 2018 The board also approved a motion to establish a process for approving more elective courses in ethnic studies. — Andrea Zelinski, San Antonio Express-News, "State Board of Education strips ‘Mexican-American Studies’ name from elective," 12 Apr. 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
This would allow students more opportunity for electives, honors courses, and credit recovery, and ideally attract more students to the campuses, Kimble said. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Vista schools at risk of financial problems, report warns," 6 Sep. 2019 The World Religions course will be an optional elective that covers Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other popular world religions, officials said. — Billy Kobin, The Courier-Journal, "Kentucky high school drops 'Bible Literacy' course over constitutional concerns," 9 Aug. 2019 Officials at Anderson County High said an undisclosed number of students had signed up for the Old Testament elective before the school decided to not offer it. — Billy Kobin, The Courier-Journal, "Kentucky high school drops 'Bible Literacy' course over constitutional concerns," 9 Aug. 2019 The Legislative and Executive Branch are opposed to State funded elective abortions; the only branch of government that insists on State funded elective abortions is the Supreme Court. — Tegan Hanlon, Anchorage Daily News, "ACLU sues Dunleavy for veto to Alaska court system over abortion rulings," 17 July 2019 Under the proposal, the school would not rank students or give honors credits for electives. — USA TODAY, "Mural for missing women, ‘Jedi’ cremations, MRI party: News from around our 50 states," 18 June 2019 The Legislative and Executive Branch are opposed to State funded elective abortions; the only branch of government that insists on State funded elective abortions is the Supreme Court. — James Brooks, Anchorage Daily News, "Here’s a rundown of Gov. Dunleavy’s line-item budget vetoes," 29 June 2019 Dogs detect 10 fundamental explosives from each of the six main families of explosives and four electives that ATF chemists make and transport to testing events. — Nina Bertelsen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Canine teams from the Midwest are training in Wisconsin this week. Here are 9 things to know about explosive-sniffing K-9s," 24 Oct. 2018 Stanford University is offering one of its most popular business-school electives to people outside its elite M.B.A. program. — Kelsey Gee, WSJ, "Stanford Pushes Executives to Get ‘Touchy Feely’," 1 May 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'elective.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for elective
elective
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of elective
(Entry 1 of 2)
: held by a person who is elected
: not medically necessary
chiefly US
: not required in a particular course of study
elective
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of elective (Entry 2 of 2)
US
: a class that is not required in a particular course of study
See the full definition for elective in the English Language Learners Dictionary
elective
adjective