noun / adjective · neutral
alternative
UK/ɔːlˈtɜːnətɪv/US/ɔːlˈtɜːrnətɪv/al·TER·na·tive
Band 7+speakingtask2
another option or choice; something that can be used instead
Examples
“If public transport is unreliable, cycling can be a practical alternative.”
“They offered an alternative plan to save costs.”
“alternative energy sources”
Band 8 sentence
“When the original proposal failed, the committee quickly drew up a realistic alternative that avoided costly infrastructure work.”
Collocations
- an alternative to
- a viable alternative
Word family
alternative noun / adjectivealternatively adverb
Common mistakes
alternative of→alternative to
alternate→alternative
Say it for a higher band
5option→6choice→7+alternative
Synonyms
option
substitute
Easily confused
substitute
“A suitable substitute for butter is margarine.”
Related words
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In Sublist 2
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