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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.
- Preface

1828 Noah Webster Dictionary
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ALTERN'ATIVE, a. Offering a choice of two things.

ALTERN'ATIVE, n. That which may be chosen or omitted; a choice of two things, so that if one is taken, the other must be left. Thus, when two things offer a choice of one only, the two things are called alternatives. In strictness, then, the word can not be applied to more than two things, and when one thing only is offered for choice, it is said there is no alternative.

Between these alternatives there is no middle ground.


Evolution (or devolution) of this word [alternative]

1828 Webster1844 Webster1913 Webster

ALTERN'ATIVE, a. Offering a choice of two things.

ALTERN'ATIVE, n. That which may be chosen or omitted; a choice of two things, so that if one is taken, the other must be left. Thus, when two things offer a choice of one only, the two things are called alternatives. In strictness, then, the word can not be applied to more than two things, and when one thing only is offered for choice, it is said there is no alternative.

Between these alternatives there is no middle ground.

AL-TERN'A-TIVE, a. [Fr. alternatif.]

Offering a choice of two things.


AL-TERN'A-TIVE, n.

That which may chosen or omitted; a choice of two things, so that if one is taken, the other must be left. Thus, when two things offer a choice of one only, the two things are called alternatives. In strictness, then, the word cannot be applied to more than two things, and when one thing only is offered for choice, it is said there is no alternative. Between these alternatives there is no middle ground. – Cranch.


Al*ter"na*tive
  1. Offering a choice of two things.
  2. An offer of two things, one of which may be chosen, but not both; a choice between two things, so that if one is taken, the other must be left.

    There is something else than the mere alternative of absolute destruction or unreformed existence.
    Burke.

  3. Disjunctive; as, an alternative conjunction.
  4. Either of two things or propositions offered to one's choice. Thus when two things offer a choice of one only, the two things are called alternatives.

    Having to choose between two alternatives, safety and war, you obstinately prefer the worse.
    Jowett (Thucyd.).

  5. Alternate; reciprocal.

    [Obs.] Holland.
  6. The course of action or the thing offered in place of another.

    If this demand is refused the alternative is war.
    Lewis.

    With no alternative but death.
    Longfellow.

  7. A choice between more than two things; one of several things offered to choose among.

    My decided preference is for the fourth and last of these alternatives.
    Gladstone.

1828 Webster1844 Webster1913 Webster

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Alternative

ALTERN'ATIVE, adjective Offering a choice of two things.

ALTERN'ATIVE, noun That which may be chosen or omitted; a choice of two things, so that if one is taken, the other must be left. Thus, when two things offer a choice of one only, the two things are called alternatives. In strictness, then, the word can not be applied to more than two things, and when one thing only is offered for choice, it is said there is no alternative

Between these alternatives there is no middle ground.

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Word of the Day

importance

IMPORT'ANCE, n.

1. Weight; consequence; a bearing on some interest; that quality of any thing by which it may affect a measure, interest or result. The education of youth is of great importance to a free government. A religious education is of infinite importance to every human being.

2. Weight or consequence in the scale of being.

Thy own importance know.

Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.

3. Weight or consequence in self-estimation.

He believes himself a man of importance.

4. Thing implied; matter; subject; importunity. [In these senses, obsolete.]

Random Word

polysyndeton

POLYSYN'DETON, n. [Gr. many and connecting.] A figure of rhetoric by which the copulative is often repeated; as, "we have ships and men and money and stores."

Noah's 1828 Dictionary

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Noah Webster, the Father of American Christian education, wrote the first American dictionary and established a system of rules to govern spelling, grammar, and reading. This master linguist understood the power of words, their definitions, and the need for precise word usage in communication to maintain independence. Webster used the Bible as the foundation for his definitions.

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