# selective

Pronunciation: US say "suh-LEK-tiv" /səˈlɛktɪv/; UK

## Adjective

1. Careful and particular in choosing, accepting only some things while rejecting others.
   - Simple: Careful about choosing, accepting only the things you really want or like.
   - _The gallery is highly selective, showing only a fraction of the artists who apply._
   - _Recruiters became more selective once hundreds of applications poured in._
2. Relating to the process of choosing or picking out particular things from a larger group.
   - Simple: Having to do with picking or choosing something out.
   - _The selective phase of recruitment evaluates each candidate against strict criteria._
   - _Admissions officers described the selective procedure used to rank thousands of applicants._
3. Possessing the authority or ability to carry out a selection of people or things. *(US)*
   - Simple: Having the power or right to choose someone or something.
   - _During the war, his local Selective Service board decided which men from the county would be drafted._
   - _Congress gave the Selective Service the power to choose which registered men would be called up first._
4. Relating to natural selection: the tendency of organisms better adapted to their environment to survive and reproduce.
   - Simple: Having to do with how nature lets the best-suited living things survive and pass on their traits.
   - _Drought created a strong selective advantage for plants with deeper roots._
   - _Biologists tracked the selective forces shaping beak size across generations of finches._
5. Relating to the social-work approach of targeting benefits or services at those who meet specific need-based criteria rather than at everyone.
   - Simple: Having to do with a way of giving help only to the people who need it most.
   - _The council adopted a selective approach, offering grants only to households below the income threshold._
   - _Critics argued the selective scheme excluded many families sitting just above the cutoff._

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/selective (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).