Meaning & use
selective
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Choosing carefully and not accepting just anything.
Grammar: Often followed by about or in: selective about what he eats.
Patterns
- selective about something
- selective in something
She is selective about which jobs she applies for.
The museum is very selective in what it displays.
Cats can be highly selective eaters.
adjectivecomparable
Accepting only students or members who meet high standards, or applying to only some people or things.
Grammar: Used for schools, programs, and processes: a selective college.
Patterns
- a selective school
- selective admission
The college is highly selective and accepts one in ten applicants.
A selective school tests children before admitting them.
The program is selective, with only twenty places.
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Affecting or acting on only certain things, not all.
Grammar: Common in science and law: selective breeding, selective memory.
Patterns
- selective breeding
- selective pressure
Farmers used selective breeding to improve the herd.
The herbicide is selective and does not harm grass.
His selective memory forgot every promise he made.
Word forms
| comparative | more selective |
|---|---|
| superlative | most selective |
Common combinations
- highly selective
- The program is highly selective.
- selective breeding
- Selective breeding produced the modern dairy cow.
- selective memory
- He has a selective memory when it comes to chores.
- selective about
- Be selective about the sources you trust.
- selective school
- Entry to the selective school is by exam.
- selective attention
- Selective attention lets us focus in a noisy room.
Synonyms and how they differ
- choosy
- Choosy is informal and suggests being hard to please, while selective is more neutral and can be a good thing.
- discriminating
- Discriminating suggests good taste and judgment, whereas selective focuses on the act of choosing.
- particular
- Particular means fussy about details, which is a little more negative than selective.
- exclusive
- Exclusive suggests keeping many people out, often by cost or status, and not about careful choice.
Opposites
Word family
- select verb
- to choose carefully from a group
- selection noun
- the act of choosing, or a group of chosen things
- selectively adverb
- in a way that chooses only some
- selectivity noun
- the quality of being careful in choosing
- selector noun
- a person or device that selects
Commonly confused: selective or elective? selective or select?
selective vs elective
Elective means chosen by the person, as in an elective course, and is not the same as being careful in choosing.
selective vs select
Select can be an adjective meaning of high quality, as in a select group, while selective describes the act of choosing.
Practice
The restaurant is very ___ about its suppliers and only buys from local farms.
Choose one answer.
Selective about means choosing carefully. Indiscriminate and careless are the opposite, and generous does not describe how suppliers are chosen.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “selective”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.