adj. & n.
--adj.
1. (of one or more things) available or usable instead of another (an alternative route).
Usage:
Use with reference to more than two options (e.g. many alternative methods) is common, and acceptable.
2 (of two things) mutually exclusive.
3 of or relating to practices that offer a substitute for the conventional ones (alternative medicine; alternative theatre).
--n.
1. any of two or more possibilities.
2 the freedom or opportunity to choose between two or more things (I had no alternative but to go).
Phrases and idioms:
the alternative society a group of people dissociating themselves from conventional society and its values.
Derivatives:
alternatively adv.
Etymology: F alternatif -ive or med.L alternativus (as ALTERNATE)