selective

adjective

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se·lec·tive | \ sə-ˈlek-tiv

Definition of selective

1 : of, relating to, or characterized by selection : selecting or tending to select

2 : highly specific in activity or effect selective pesticides selective absorption

Other Words from selective Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about selective

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Other Words from selective

selectively adverb

selectiveness noun

selectivity \ sə-ˌlek-ˈti-və-tē

, ˌsē- \ noun

Synonyms & Antonyms for selective

Synonyms

Antonyms

Examples of selective in a Sentence

The club is selective in choosing members. The college has a highly selective admissions process.

Recent Examples on the Web To that end, Smith is rather selective in identifying and landing recruits. — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, "Gordon Monson: Thieving Utah steals away Craig Smith from Utah State — and comes away with a diamond," 27 Mar. 2021 McKinsey is famously selective in its hiring: The company gets about 200,000 applicants annually for just 2,000 spots. — Oliver Staley, Quartz, "McKinsey faces its moment of reckoning," 27 Mar. 2021 And many people are being more selective, looking for life partners, not one-night stands. — Cheryl Maida, sun-sentinel.com, "Date with purpose during COVID-19 | Opinion," 11 Mar. 2021 Prescott’s team-friendly extension allows the Cowboys to be more selective when pivoting now to these decisions. — Michael Gehlken, Dallas News, "With Dak Prescott’s deal complete, the Cowboys can finally see light at the end of the salary cap tunnel," 8 Mar. 2021 Meanwhile, intensive care units at many hospitals are filled, and medical providers are being more selective about which patients are admitted. — Los Angeles Times, "California quelled virus surge with March stay-at-home order. Why isn’t this one working?," 21 Dec. 2020 Experts expect timber yields to slump again, putting the industry on the edge even as the debate over better forest management through selective logging takes on new importance in the face of apocalyptic wildfire seasons. — Heather Somerville, WSJ, "This Small Lumber Company Beat Back a Blaze. Rebuilding Is a Bigger Battle.," 14 Oct. 2020 Molchanov notes investors need to be selective in the clean tech-energy sector, citing that most stocks in this space are trading near record valuation multiples – on average, current multiples are approximately double the levels of one year ago. — Palash Ghosh, Forbes, "Green Energy Stocks Take Breather After 2020 Surge, But Future Prospects Look Good On Biden, EU Climate Pledges," 10 Mar. 2021 But that's due to a surge of applications to selective colleges, which dropped their SAT and ACT score requirements this year — opening the door to students who might not otherwise have applied. — Aimee Picchi, CBS News, "The college wealth premium is shrinking for younger Americans," 22 Feb. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'selective.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.