choice definition

English choice definition

Alternative forms

• choise, choyse (both obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English chois, from Old French chois (“choice”), from choisir (“to choose, perceive”), possibly via assumed Vulgar Latin *causīre (“to choose”), from Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kausjan, “to make a choice, taste, test, choose”), from Proto-Germanic *kauzijaną, from *keusaną (“to choose”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to choose”). Akin to Old High German kiosan (“to choose”), Old English ċēosan (“to choose”), Old Norse kjósa (“to choose”). More at choose.

The adjectival meaning of "especially good, preferred, select" was likely influenced by Middle English chyse, chys, chis (“choice, excellent”), from Old English ċīs, *ċīes (“choice; dainty; nice”), related to Old English ċēosan (“to choose”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɔɪs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪs

Noun

choice (countable and uncountable, plural choices)

1. An option; a decision; an opportunity to choose or select something.
   • 2012 January 1, Steven Sloman, “The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 1, page 74:

     Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that “nudges” our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.

   Do I have a choice of what color to paint it?

2. (uncountable) The power to choose.

   She didn't leave us much choice.

   • 1907, Woodrow Wilson, Constitutional Government in the United States, page 68:

     For he is also the political leader of the nation, or has it in his choice to be.

3. One selection or preference; that which is chosen or decided; the outcome of a decision.

   The ice cream sundae is a popular choice for dessert.

4. Anything that can be chosen.

   You have three choices: vanilla, strawberry or chocolate

5. (usually with the) The best or most preferable part.
   • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, page 3:

     The flower and choice / Of many provinces from bound to bound.

6. (obsolete) Care and judgement in selecting; discrimination, selectiveness.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], Apophthegmes New and Old. […], London: […] Hanna Barret, and Richard Whittaker, […], OCLC 771110810:

     I imagine they [the apothegms of Caesar] were collected with judgment and choice.

   • 1757, Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, London: R. & J. Dodsley, Part I, Section I, p. 1,^[2]

     We see children perpetually running from place to place to hunt out something new; they catch with great eagerness, and with very little choice, at whatever comes before them; their attention is engaged by every thing, because every thing has, in that stage of life, the charm of novelty to recommend it.

7. (obsolete) A sufficient number to choose among.
   • c. 1591, Shakespeare, William, Henry VI, Part 1, act 5, scene 5, lines 17–18:

     And, which is more, she is not so divine, / So full replete with choice of all delights

8. (set theory) Ellipsis of axiom of choice..
   • 2016 July 15, Decio Krause, Jonas R.B. Arenhart, The Logical Foundations of Scientific Theories: Languages, Structures, and Models (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Mathematics and Physics)‎^[3], Routledge, →ISBN, page 51:

     5. ZF* is the theory obtained from the aforementioned axiomatics (without choice) by adding the Axiom of Inaccessible Cardinals to be explained in the next secion; similarly, we get ZFC*.

Synonyms

• (selection or preference): option, possibility; see also Thesaurus:option
• (anything that can be chosen): assortment, range, selection
• (definite: best or most preferable part): the cream
• (sufficient number to choose among): abundance, profusion; see also Thesaurus:cornucopia

Derived terms

• choicy
• Hercules' choice
• Hobson's choice
• Sophie's choice

Related terms

• choose
• choosey
• chosen

Translations

Adjective

choice (comparative choicer or more choice, superlative choicest or most choice)

1. Especially good or preferred.

   Synonyms: prime, prize, quality, select, choicy

   It's a choice location, but you will pay more to live there.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 33, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299, page 162:

     This it is, that for ever keeps God’s true princes of the Empire from the world’s hustings; and leaves the highest honors that this air can give, to those men who become famous more through their infinite inferiority to the choice hidden handful of the Divine Inert, than through their undoubted superiority over the dead level of the mass.

2. (obsolete) Careful in choosing; discriminating.
   • 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:

     Choice word, and measured phrase; above the reach / Of ordinary men; a stately speech;

   • 1856, J. R. Planché (tr.), Fairy Tales by the Countess d'Aulnoy, The Princess Carpillon:

     Thus musing, he ate nothing; the Queen, believing that it was in consequence of his having been unkindly received, loaded him with caresses; she herself handed him some exquisite fruits, of which she was very choice.

   • 1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], OCLC 364546898:

     One day the cabin steward made me a present of some molasses, which I was so choice of that I kept it hid away in a tin can in the farthest corner of my bunk.

Translations

Interjection

choice

1. (slang, New Zealand) Cool; excellent.

   "I'm going to the movies." —"Choice!"

See also

• choicy

References

• choice at OneLook Dictionary Search.
• choice in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• echoic

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Middle English choice definition

Noun

choice

1. Alternative form of chois

Adjective

choice

1. Alternative form of chois