elective

comparative more elective · superlative most elective

1. Of, or pertaining to voting or elections; involving a choice between options.

   1697, John Dryden, The Works of Virgil […] translated into English Verse, London: Jacob Tonson, dedicatory preface to the Marquess of Normanby, For his Conscience could not but whisper to the Arbitrary Monarch, that the Kings of Rome were at first Elective, and Govern’d not without a Senate:

   4 more examples

   Man thus endued with an elective voice, Must be supplied with objects of his choice.

   1782, William Cowper, “The Progress of Error”, in Poems,, London: J. Johnson, page 43

   […] they rested their hopes of redress on the independent use of their elective franchise;

   1854, George Bancroft, chapter 35, in History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the American Continent,, volume 6, Boston: Little, Brown, page 185

   See the populace, millions upon millions, handsome, tall, muscular, both sexes, clothed in easy and dignified clothes―teaching, commanding, marrying, generating, equally electing and elective;

   1860, Walt Whitman, “Proto-Leaf”, in Leaves of Grass, Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, page 21

   1896, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, “The South African Question” in Speeches and Writings of M. K. Gandhi, Madras: G.A. Natesan, 3rd edition, 1922, p. 6, [The bill] says that no natives of countries (not of European origin) which have not hitherto possessed elective representative institutions […] shall be placed on the voters roll […]

   Synonyms: electoral · Antonyms: appointive, hereditary

2. Open to choice; freely chosen; (also, usually) unnecessary; minor.

   After accounting for all of my required courses, there is hardly any room in my schedule for any elective ones.

   5 more examples

   […] his Lordship is deceived if he think any spontaneous action after once being checked in it, differs from an action voluntary and elective, for even the setting of a mans foot, in the posture for walking, and the action of ordinary eating was once deliberated of how and when it should be done, and though afterward it became easie & habitual so as to be done without fore-thought, yet that does not hinder but that the act is voluntary and proceedeth from election.

   1654, Thomas Hobbes, Of Libertie and Necessitie, London: F. Eaglesfield, pages 12–13

   1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne & Son, and T. Cadell, Volume 5, Book 9, Chapter 8, pp. 160-161, “You know not then,” said Cecilia, in a faint voice, “my inability to comply?” “Your ability, or inability, I presume are elective?” “Oh no!—my power is lost!—my fortune itself is gone!”

   [Her friends] are, after all, her elective siblings who have distanced themselves from the ways of the past, their families […]

   2001, Nadine Gordimer, The Pickup, Toronto: Viking, page 23

   “[…] That blog is a game that you don’t really take seriously, it’s like choosing an interesting elective evening class to complete your credits.”

   2013, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, chapter 38, in Americanah, New York: Knopf, page 346

   Now some adventuring imbecile had acquired an elective sickness and was paying its price.

   2019, Dave Eggers, The Parade, New York: Vintage, page 130

   Synonyms: discretionary, optional, voluntary · Antonyms: compulsory, mandatory, obligatory, required, involuntary

3. US health care systemengineeringScheduled and nonemergent (regardless of whether necessary or unnecessary and whether minor or serious).

   It was very confusing hearing my cancer surgery being classified as "elective surgery". Am I "electing" to live rather than die?

   1 more example

   The vast majority of surgical procedures are considered elective, which means they can be scheduled in advance. […] doctors warned that thousands of patients were suffering as a result of delayed elective procedures such as hernia repair and spinal fusion. […] Nitin Yerram, director of urological oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, said most cancer surgeries are considered elective, a term that's often misunderstood. "We tend to think more of tummy tucks and cosmetic surgery," Yerram said. "However, all ‘elective’ means is it's a scheduled surgery with work-up done before that. The opposite of elective is emergent or trauma situation, such as a car crash, where it's not a scheduled procedure."

   2024 January 9, Dan Lamothe, Matt Viser, Fenit Nirappil, Missy Ryan, “Austin treated for prostate cancer before emergency, Pentagon reveals”, in Washington Post, retrieved 09 Jan 2024

   Antonyms: emergent, unscheduled

plural electives

1. Something that is an option or may be freely chosen, especially a course of study.

   I still need to decide which electives to take along with my compulsory courses next semester.