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Choice
Choice involves decision making. It can include judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one or more of them. One can make a choice between imagined options (“What would I do if…?”) or between real options followed by the corresponding action. For example, a traveller might choose a route for a journey based on the preference of arriving at a given destination as soon as possible. The preferred (and therefore chosen) route can then follow from information such as the length of each of the possible routes, traffic conditions, etc. The arrival at a choice can include more complex motivators such as cognition, instinct, and feeling.
Simple choices might include what to eat for dinner or what to wear on a Saturday morning – choices that have relatively low-impact on the chooser’s life overall. More complex choices might involve (for example) what candidate to vote for in an election, what profession to pursue, a life partner, etc. – choices based on multiple influences and having larger ramifications.
Freedom of choice is generally cherished, whereas a severely limited or artificially restricted choice can lead to discomfort with choosing, and possibly an unsatisfactory outcome. In contrast, a choice with excessively numerous options may lead to confusion, regret of the alternatives not taken, and indifference in an unstructured existence;
and the illusion that choosing an object or a course, necessarily leads to the control of that object or course, can cause psychological problems.
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Option (noun)
One of a set of choices that can be made. from the 19th c.
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Option (noun)
The freedom or right to choose.
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Option (noun)
A contract giving the holder the right to buy or sell an asset at a set strike price; can apply to financial market transactions, or to ordinary transactions for tangible assets such as a residence or automobile. from the mid-18th c.
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Option (noun)
A button on a screen used to select an action .
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Option (verb)
To purchase an option on something. from the 20th c
“The new novel was optioned by the film studio, but they’ll probably never decide to make a movie from it.”
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Option (verb)
To configure, by setting an option.
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Choice (noun)
An option; a decision; an opportunity to choose or select something.
“Do I have a choice of what color to paint it?”
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Choice (noun)
The power to choose.
“She didn’t leave us much choice.”
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Choice (noun)
One selection or preference; that which is chosen or decided; the outcome of a decision.
“The ice cream sundae is a popular choice for dessert.”
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Choice (noun)
Anything that can be chosen.
“You have three choices: vanilla, strawberry or chocolate”
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Choice (noun)
The best or most preferable part.
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Choice (noun)
Care and judgement in selecting; discrimination, selectiveness.
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Choice (noun)
A sufficient number to choose among.
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Choice (adjective)
Especially good or preferred.
“It’s a choice location, but you will pay more to live there.”
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Choice (adjective)
Cool; excellent.
“Choice! I’m going to the movies.”
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Choice (adjective)
Careful in choosing; discriminating.
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Option (noun)
a thing that is or may be chosen
“choose the cheapest options for supplying energy”
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Option (noun)
the freedom or right to choose something
“he has no option but to pay up”
“she was given the option of resigning or being dismissed”
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Option (noun)
a right to buy or sell a particular thing at a specified price within a set time
“Columbia Pictures has an option on the script”
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Option (verb)
buy or sell an option on
“his second script will have been optioned by the time you read this”
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Choice (noun)
an act of choosing between two or more possibilities
“the choice between good and evil”
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Choice (noun)
the right or ability to choose
“I had to do it, I had no choice”
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Choice (noun)
a range of possibilities from which one or more may be chosen
“you can have a sofa made in a choice of forty fabrics”
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Choice (noun)
a thing or person which is chosen
“this disk drive is the perfect choice for your computer”
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Choice (adjective)
(especially of food) of very good quality
“he picked some choice early plums”
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Choice (adjective)
(of words or language) rude and abusive
“he had a few choice words at his command”