selective
Americanadjective
-
having the function or power of selecting; making a selection.
-
characterized by selection, especially fastidious selection.
- Synonyms:
- discerning, particular, discriminating
-
of or relating to selection.
-
Electricity, Radio. having good selectivity.
adjective
-
of or characterized by selection
-
tending to choose carefully or characterized by careful choice
-
electronics occurring at, operating at, or capable of separating out a particular frequency or band of frequencies
Other Word Forms
- nonselective adjective
- selectively adverb
- selectiveness noun
- unselective adjective
Etymology
Origin of selective
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Emeritus status is selective and requires approval at most universities.
From Salon
Congressional depositions normally occur behind closed doors, though the Clintons had fought for their testimony to be public so that selective portions of their answers could not be leaked to the media without context.
From BBC
Instead, Mr. Capron kept their demonstrations selective: “they do not mean to give any public exhibitions …” only, “private investigations of scientific persons and friends.”
From Literature
It means they are more selective about how they spend their time.
“AI disruption will not be linear,” they added, arguing that investors will need to be selective and look for potential AI winners across a variety of sectors.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
