"elective" meaning in English

See elective in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ɪˈlɛktɪv/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-elective.wav [UK] Forms: elective [positive], more elective [comparative], most elective [superlative]
Etymology: elect + -ive Etymology templates: {{ety-suffix|elect|ive}} elect + -ive Head templates: {{adj|more=true}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If something is elective, it is related to voting or elections.
    Sense id: simple-elective-en-adj-SuL822Iy
  2. If something is elective, it is not compulsory and you can chose to not do it. Synonyms: optional
    Sense id: simple-elective-en-adj-kgkPwPAl
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Categories (other): Terms suffixed with -ive

Noun

IPA: /ɪˈlɛktɪv/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-elective.wav [UK] Forms: elective [singular], electives [plural]
Etymology: elect + -ive Etymology templates: {{ety-suffix|elect|ive}} elect + -ive Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. An elective is an optional course of study or medical procedure.
    Sense id: simple-elective-en-noun-I5nPmEaV
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Categories (other): Terms suffixed with -ive
{
  "categories": [
    {
      "kind": "other",
      "name": "Terms suffixed with -ive",
      "parents": [],
      "source": "w"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "elect",
        "2": "ive"
      },
      "expansion": "elect + -ive",
      "name": "ety-suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "elect + -ive",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "elective",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "more elective",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most elective",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "more": "true"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "If something is elective, it is related to voting or elections."
      ],
      "id": "simple-elective-en-adj-SuL822Iy"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "My insurance wouldn't pay for the operation because it was elective surgery."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If something is elective, it is not compulsory and you can chose to not do it."
      ],
      "id": "simple-elective-en-adj-kgkPwPAl",
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "optional"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈlɛktɪv/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-elective.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "elective"
}

{
  "categories": [
    {
      "kind": "other",
      "name": "Terms suffixed with -ive",
      "parents": [],
      "source": "w"
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        "1": "elect",
        "2": "ive"
      },
      "expansion": "elect + -ive",
      "name": "ety-suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "elect + -ive",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "elective",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "electives",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
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  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "An elective is an optional course of study or medical procedure."
      ],
      "id": "simple-elective-en-noun-I5nPmEaV",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈlɛktɪv/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-elective.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
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}
{
  "categories": [
    "Terms suffixed with -ive"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
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        "1": "elect",
        "2": "ive"
      },
      "expansion": "elect + -ive",
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    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "elect + -ive",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "elective",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "more elective",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most elective",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "more": "true"
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      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "If something is elective, it is related to voting or elections."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "My insurance wouldn't pay for the operation because it was elective surgery."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If something is elective, it is not compulsory and you can chose to not do it."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "optional"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈlɛktɪv/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-elective.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "elective"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Terms suffixed with -ive"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "elect",
        "2": "ive"
      },
      "expansion": "elect + -ive",
      "name": "ety-suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "elect + -ive",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "elective",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "electives",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An elective is an optional course of study or medical procedure."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈlɛktɪv/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-elective.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "elective"
}

Download raw JSONL data for elective meaning in English (1.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-20 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (ee63ee9 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.