OPTION

choice, selection, option, pick

(noun) the act of choosing or selecting; ā€œyour choice of colors was unfortunateā€; ā€œyou can take your pickā€

option, alternative, choice

(noun) one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen; ā€œwhat option did I have?ā€; ā€œthere is no other alternativeā€; ā€œmy only choice is to refuseā€

option

(noun) the right to buy or sell property at an agreed price; the right is purchased and if it is not exercised by a stated date the money is forfeited

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

option (plural options)

One of a set of choices that can be made. [from the 19th c.]

The freedom or right to choose.

(finance, legal) A contract giving the holder the right to buy or sell an asset at a set strike price; can apply to financial market transactions, or to ordinary transactions for tangible assets such as a residence or automobile. [from the mid-18th c.]

Synonyms

• alternative

• choice

• possibility

• See also option

Hypernyms

• (finance) (A contract giving the holder the right to buy or sell an asset): derivative

Hyponyms

• (finance) (A contract giving the holder the right to buy or sell an asset): American option, Bermudan option, European option, call option or call, put option or put, warrant

Verb

option (third-person singular simple present options, present participle optioning, simple past and past participle optioned)

To purchase an option on something. [from the 20th c]

(computing, dated) To configure, by setting an option.

Anagrams

• potion

Source: Wiktionary


Op"tion, n. Etym: [L. optio; akin to optare to choose, wish, optimus best, and perh. to E. apt: cf. F. option.]

1. The power of choosing; the right of choice or election; an alternative. There is an option left to the United States of America, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable, as a nation. Washington.

2. The exercise of the power of choice; choice. Transplantation must proceed from the option of the people, else it sounds like an exile. Bacon.

3. A wishing; a wish. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

4. (Ch. of Eng.)

Definition: A right formerly belonging to an archbishop to select any one dignity or benefice in the gift of a suffragan bishop consecrated or confirmed by him, for bestowal by himself when next vacant; -- annulled by Parliament in 1845.

5. (Stock Exchange)

Definition: A stipulated privilege, given to a party in a time contract, of demanding its fulfillment on any day within a specified limit. Buyer's option, an option allowed to one who contracts to buy stocks at a certain future date and at a certain price, to demand the delivery of the stock (giving one day's notice) at any previous time at the market price.

– Seller's option, an option allowed to one who contracts to deliver stock art a certain price on a certain future date, to deliver it (giving one day's notice) at any previous time at the market price. Such options are privileges for which a consideration is paid.

– Local option. See under Local.

Syn.

– Choice; preference; selection.

– Option, Choice. Choice is an act of choosing; option often means liberty to choose, and implies freedom from constraint in the act of choosing.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

22 February 2025

ANALYSIS

(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ā€˜the father of the brideā€™ instead of ā€˜the brideā€™s fatherā€™


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Coffee Trivia

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