electively

adverb

as in either

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of electively The majority of women who freeze their eggs electively are White and well-resourced. — Lesley Stahl, CBS News, 31 May 2026 Where Your Insurance Likely Stands For most women freezing eggs electively, insurance won’t cover the procedure. — Allison Palmer, Kansas City Star, 8 Apr. 2026 Pfizer and AstraZeneca recently agreed to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid after an executive order in May set a deadline for drugmakers to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay. — Staff, Twin Cities, 6 Nov. 2025 Both agreements, however, build on an executive order Trump signed in May that set a deadline for drugmakers to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay. — Arkansas Online, 12 Oct. 2025 The agreement by Pfizfer builds on an executive order Trump signed in May setting a deadline for drugmakers to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay. — Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 30 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for electively
  1. either
  2. optionally
  3. instead
  4. alternately
  5. alternatively
Adverb
  • Getting the role wasn’t any sort of immediate windfall either.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Alongside that, many players in the past have left Arsenal while on the decline, which does not help either.
    — Kaya Kaynak, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of either
Adverb
  • In an example video, Google demonstrates how the user can speak long, complex instructions, optionally referring to files on the local computer, and have Gemini synthesize a response directly into a document or email.
    — Paul Monckton, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026
  • This partnership is set to provide a means of churning out large numbers of autonomous or optionally crewed ships in American shipyards.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 26 July 2026
Definition of optionally
Adverb
  • Parents are naming guardians for their children in case they are detained or deported, while others have stopped working, shopping or even leaving home, relying instead on neighbors and churches.
    — Maria Santana, CNN Money, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Douglass opted not to race the individual 100, instead swimming the 100 breaststroke Thursday.
    — Peter Baugh, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of instead
Adverb
  • Flitting between deadpan sorrow and impassioned romance, Bridgers’ album is alternately spooky, hilarious, mysterious and sneakily moving.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 9 Aug. 2026
  • Carol is alternately enchanted and frustrated by her husband’s innocence and altruism, which led him to his not particularly remunerative career as an interpreter.
    — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 22 July 2026
Definition of alternately
Adverb
  • Might that be because this particular partner would include politicians prone to grandstanding — or, alternatively, focused more on mundane issues such as schools and crime than on horse racing?
    — Stephen J. K. Walters, Baltimore Sun, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Or, alternatively, importers register arriving tankers as empty or near-empty.
    — Foreign Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of alternatively

Browse Nearby Words

elective
electively
electives
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Cite this Entry

“Electively.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/electively. Accessed 20 Aug. 2026.

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