option

See also: Option

English

Etymology

From French option, from Latin optiō (“choice; option; act of choosing”), from optō (“I choose, select”). Equivalent to opt +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒpʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑpʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

option (plural options)

1. One of a set of choices that can be made. [from 19th c.]
   • 2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1 - 0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Luiz struggled with the movement of Helguson in the box, as he collected a long ball and the Spaniard barged him over, leaving referee Chris Foy little option but to point to the spot.

   • 2012 January, Steven Sloman, “The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation”, in American Scientist‎^[2], volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 8 January 2012, page 74:

     Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that “nudges” our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.

2. The freedom or right to choose.
4. (finance, law) 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 mid-18th c.]
   • 1977 August 13, Pala Bennett, Mary Jo Risher, Ann Foreman, “"I'm A Mother, And I'm A Good One."”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 6, page 8:

     There's a book out on us and there's gonna be a movie based on the book. ABC has bought the option for a movie to be made specially for T.V.

5. (law, uncountable) The acquiring or retention of a nationality through personal choice as a right, bypassing selective legal mechanisms for naturalization, especially in cases where a territory is transferred or passed on from one state to another.
   • 1928, Appeal to the Noble English Nation by the Committee of the Defenders of the Rights of Palestinian Arab Emigrants to the Palestinian Citizenship, page 10:

     At that time every emigrant who was made aware of such a notification submitted his application for option to the British Consuls within the period prescribed.

   • 1998, Venice Commission, Consequences of State Succession for Nationality, →ISBN, page 45:

     A right of option, mostly in favour of the nationality of the predecessor State, has been accorded in most cases of partial State succession, either by treaty or by domestic legislation.

   • 2012, Oliver W. Vonk, Dual Nationality in the European Union: A Study on Changing Norms […], →ISBN, page 243, note 154:

     This group constitutes around 9 percent of the total number of acquisitions of Dutch nationality through option.

Synonyms

• alternative
• choice
• possibility
• See also Thesaurus:option

Hypernyms

• (finance) (A contract giving the holder the right to buy or sell an asset): derivative

Hyponyms

• (finance) (A contract giving the holder the right to buy or sell an asset): American option, Bermudan option, European option, call option or call, put option or put, warrant

Derived terms

• co-option
• credit default option
• local option
• low exercise price option
• negative option
• network option time
• non-option
• not an option
• nuclear option
• optionable
• optional
• option button
• option-select
• stock option
• triple option
• zero option

 

Related terms

• opt
• optimal
• optimise, optimize
• optimism
• optimist
• optimistic

Translations

one of the choices that can be made

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: خِيَار (ar) m (ḵiyār) اِخْتِيَار m (iḵtiyār)
• Armenian: ընտրանք (hy) (əntrankʻ), ընտրություն (hy) (əntrutʻyun)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: aukera
• Belarusian: вы́бар m (výbar), о́пцыя f (ópcyja), варыя́нт m (varyjánt), альтэрнаты́ва f (alʹternatýva)
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: о́пция f (ópcija), алтернати́ва (bg) f (alternatíva), и́збор (bg) m (ízbor), вариа́нт (bg) m (variánt)
• Catalan: opció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 選擇／选择 (syun² zaak⁶)

  Hokkien: 選擇／选择 (zh-min-nan) (soán-te̍k)

  Mandarin: 選擇／选择 (zh) (xuǎnzé)

• Czech: možnost (cs) f, volba (cs) f, výběr (cs) f
• Danish: valgmulighed (da) c, mulighed (da) c
• Dutch: optie (nl) f, keuze (nl) f
• Esperanto: alternativo (eo), elekto, opcio
• Estonian: valikuvõimalus, valik
• Finnish: vaihtoehto (fi)
• French: choix (fr) m, possibilité (fr) f, option (fr) f
• Galician: opción (gl) f
• Georgian: ვარიანტი (varianṭi)
• German: Alternative (de) f, Option (de) f, Möglichkeit (de) f, Wahl (de) f
• Greek: επιλογή (el) f (epilogí), προαίρεση (el) f (proaíresi), εκλογή (el) f (eklogí)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: विकल्प (hi) m (vikalp)
• Hungarian: lehetőség (hu), opció (hu)
• Icelandic: valmöguleiki m
• Indonesian: pilihan (id), opsi (id)
• Italian: opzione (it) f
• Japanese: 選択 (ja) (せんたく, sentaku), オプション (ja) (opushon), 選択肢 (ja) (せんたく​し, sentakushi)
• Khmer: ជំរើស (cumrəəh), ជម្រើស (km) (cumrəəh)
• Korean: 선택(選擇) (ko) (seontaek), 옵션 (opsyeon), 선택지(選擇肢) (seontaekji)
• Lao: ທາງເລືອກ (thāng lư̄ak)
• Latin: optiō f
• Latvian: izvēle f, opcija f
• Lithuanian: pasirinkimas (lt) m, optacija f
• Macedonian: о́пција f (ópcija), и́збор (mk) m (ízbor)
• Malay: pilihan (ms)
• Maori: kōwhiringa
• Marathi: विकल्प (vikalpa), पर्याय (paryāy)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: сонголт (mn) (songolt)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: valgmulighet m

• Persian: گُزینِه (fa) (gozine), اِنتِخاب (fa) (entexâb), اِختِیار (fa) (extiyâr)
• Polish: opcja (pl) f, alternatywa (pl) f, wybór (pl) m
• Portuguese: opção (pt) f
• Romanian: alegere (ro) f, opțiune (ro) f
• Russian: о́пция (ru) f (ópcija), вы́бор (ru) n (výbor), вариа́нт (ru) m (variánt), альтернати́ва (ru) f (alʹtɛrnatíva)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ѝзбор m, о̀пција f

  Roman: ìzbor (sh) m, òpcija (sh) f

• Slovak: možnosť f, voľba f, výber m
• Slovene: možnost (sl) f, izbira f
• Spanish: opción (es) f, alternativa (es) f
• Swedish: alternativ (sv) n val (sv), valmöjlighet (sv),
• Tajik: интихоб (tg) (intixob), ихтиёр (tg) (ixtiyor)
• Tatar: сайлау (saylaw), опция (optsiyä), альтернатив (al’ternatiw), ихтияр (ixtiyar)
• Thai: ตัวเลือก (dtuua-lʉ̂ʉak), ทางเลือก (th) (taang-lʉ̂ʉak)
• Ukrainian: ви́бір m (výbir), о́пція f (ópcija), варіа́нт (uk) m (variánt), альтернати́ва (uk) f (alʹternatýva)
• Urdu: اِخْتِیار m (ixtiyār)
• Uzbek: tahlash
• Vietnamese: lựa chọn (vi)
• Walloon: relijha (wa) m, opcion f
• Yiddish: ברירה f (breyre), אָפּציע f (optsye)

freedom or right to choose

• Belarusian: вы́бар m (výbar)
• Bulgarian: и́збор (bg) m (ízbor)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 選擇／选择 (syun² zaak⁶)

  Hokkien: 選擇／选择 (zh-min-nan) (soán-te̍k), 選擇權／选择权 (zh) (xuǎnzéquán) (right to choose)

  Mandarin: 選擇／选择 (zh) (xuǎnzé)

• Finnish: valinnanvapaus
• Hungarian: választási lehetőség (hu), döntési szabadság
• Japanese: 選択 (ja) (せんたく, sentaku), 選択権 (せんたくけん, sentakuken) (right to choose)
• Korean: 선택(選擇) (ko) (seontaek), 선택권(選擇權) (ko) (seontaekgwon) (right to choose)
• Russian: вы́бор (ru) n (výbor)
• Tatar: сайлау (saylaw)
• Ukrainian: ви́бір m (výbir)
• Walloon: tchuze (wa) f

financial product

• Belarusian: апцыён m (apcyjón)
• Bulgarian: опцио́н m (opción)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 期權／期权 (zh) (qīquán)

• Czech: opce (cs) f
• Danish: option (da) c, aktieoption c (stock option)
• Esperanto: opcio
• Finnish: optio (fi)
• German: Option (de) f
• Hungarian: opció (hu), elővételi jog
• Indonesian: opsi (id)
• Kazakh: опцион (opsion)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: opsjon (no) m

• Polish: opcja (pl) f
• Russian: опцио́н (ru) m (opción)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̀пција f

  Roman: òpcija (sh) f

• Spanish: opción financiera, opciones (es) f
• Swedish: option (handel)
• Ukrainian: опціо́н (uk) m (opción)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} אפשרות (he) f (efshārut), ^{(please verify)} אופציה f (optsiā)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} option
• Urdu: ^{(please verify)} مرضی (ur) (murzī)

Verb

option (third-person singular simple present options, present participle optioning, simple past and past participle optioned)

1. To purchase an option on something. [from 20th c.]

   The new novel was optioned by the film studio, but they'll probably never decide to make a movie from it.

2. (computing, dated) To configure, by setting an option.
   • 1991, Martin D. Seyer, RS-232 made easy:

     The device that is to echo the characters should be optioned for echoplexing.

Further reading

• “option”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “option”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• potion

Finnish

Noun

option

1. genitive singular of optio

Anagrams

• opinto, opinto-

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin optiōnem (“choice; option; act of choosing”), from optō (“to choose, select”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔp.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

option f (plural options)

1. option

Further reading

• “option”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.