Word Study
selective
CIDE DICTIONARY
selective, a.
Selecting; tending to select. [1913 Webster]
"This selective providence of the Almighty." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
selective, adj.
1 using or characterized by selection.
2 able to select, esp. (of a radio receiver) able to respond to a chosen frequency without interference from others.
1 using or characterized by selection.
2 able to select, esp. (of a radio receiver) able to respond to a chosen frequency without interference from others.
Idiom
selective service US hist. service in the armed forces under conscription.
Derivative
selectively adv. selectiveness n. selectivity n.
THESAURUS
selective
accurate, adoptive, appointive, appreciative, censorious, choicy, choosing, choosy, clannish, cliquish, conscientious, constituent, critical, delicate, demanding, differential, discerning, discriminate, discriminating, discriminative, discriminatory, distinctive, distinguishing, eclectic, elect, elective, electoral, ethnocentric, exact, exacting, exceptional, excluding, exclusive, exclusory, fastidious, fine, inadmissible, insular, meticulous, narrow, nice, parochial, particular, perfectionistic, picky, precise, precisianistic, preclusive, prescriptive, preventive, priggish, prohibitive, prudish, punctilious, puristic, puritanic, refined, restrictive, scrupulous, seclusive, segregative, select, selecting, sensitive, separative, snobbish, snobby, strict, subtle, tactful, xenophobicFor further exploring for "selective" in Webster Dictionary Online