EGAVE

optional

Academic Word List, sublist 4.

About 5.61 uses per million words.

Meaning

  1. adjective Not compulsory; left to personal choice; elective.
    On that beach clothing is entirely optional.
  2. noun Something that is not compulsory, especially part of an academic course.
  3. noun In various programming languages, a kind of variable that is assigned a specific data type but may or may not hold an actual value.

Similar words

elective facultative ex gratia nonobligatory nonmandatory choice option selective opt voluntary

Often followed by

and protocol with for in clause or extra equipment

Word family

option optionalities optionality optionally options

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