BBC Learning English

New Words
14th January 2010
Alternative

The BBC's Clare Arthurs looks at some of the words and phrases often used in the news and
their meanings in various contexts. In this feature she talks about the word 'alternative'.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve been thinking about moving house lately but I’ve been noticing
news stories about governments which encourage people to use solar energy in their homes to
generate electricity using the rays of the sun.

Using solar power or perhaps wind power is not common or mainstream, it’s an alternative to
using the traditional or usual forms of power generation, gas or coal or even nuclear sources.

Describing something as alternative indicates it's an option which is different from the usual
or that which we’d expect. You might hear it in a news story on government energy policies.
Then there’s the debate about whether countries should continue to rely on oil for fuel. Or the
question – how best to protect the environment?

Alternative medicine is used to indicate traditional healing which might not rely on
pharmaceuticals or modern surgery.

An alternative lifestyle might be followed by someone who’s left the rush of modern city life
for a more traditional world which is closer to nature.

It might also indicate something which is different from the mainstream such as alternative
rock, which could be played on alternative radio. That doesn’t include the BBC.

New Words © British Broadcasting Corporation 2010

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