Selective

//səˈlɛktɪv// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or relating to the process of selection.

    "The selective algorithm excludes the redundant classifiers to construct a streamlined ensemble learning."

  2. 2
    Of or relating to natural selection.

    "selective pressure"

  3. 3
    Choosy, fussy or discriminating when selecting.

    "He's very selective and spent hours in the store choosing a new shirt."

  4. 4
    Having the authority or capability to make a selection. US, not-comparable

    "In the USA, military conscription is controlled by the Selective Service."

  5. 5
    Of or relating to the social work approach called selectivity.

    "Eligibility criteria form the essence of selective programs and individuals are evaluated using a means test."

Adjective
  1. 1
    tending to select; characterized by careful choice wordnet
  2. 2
    characterized by very careful or fastidious selection wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
discriminatingexclusiveaccurateadoptiveappointiveappreciative

Example

More examples

"The eyes themselves can become selective, ignoring part of what is there, and the brain sometimes insists on seeing things that don't exist at all."

Related phrases

ion selective electrodeion-selective electrodeion-selective membranenon-selectivepotassium selective electrodeselective advantageselective androgen receptor modulatorselective breedingselective collectionselective compressionselective distortionselective eating disorder

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.