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Glite Dictionary
optional

optional

99 3.3
Not required, so you can choose whether to have or use it
  • adjective
  • /ˈɑpʃənl/
translation icon : opcional
  • Most EMHS teachers, in assignments and course projects, offer optional levels of work to students.
  • optional courses
  • optional assignments
  • optional program

This next part is optional, but I think this is super cool.

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Examples

  • The final question on the survey was optional, thus not all respondents provided comments.

    Academic text (2011)

  • This next part is optional, but I think this is super cool.

    Rosanna Pansino

  • Yes, foundation is optional by choice.

  • But also at the back of the case there is an optional add on fan.

  • The reading list is optional.

    Saltburn (2023)

  • To begin with, which of these activities were optional, and which, if any, were compulsory?

    Academic text (1999)

  • As in North Carolina, a public hearing would be an optional part of the review process.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The suggested six-dollar admission charge is optional; you can pay what you wish.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • - I've had a few optional extras installed.

    The Living Daylights (1987)

  • The reading list is optional, so you don't have to complete it if you don't want to.

Synonyms

facultative
vsoptional
9.1

Not required and left to each person's choice

is more general and simply says something is not required and left to choice
nonobligatory
vsoptional
  • Formal
6.1

Not required by law or rule

is about personal choice rather than the presence or absence of a rule

Antonyms

mandatory
239 3.8

Law or rules say you must do it

compulsory
31 4.2

Required by law or rule

obligatory
  • Formal
27 5.3

Required by law, rule, or authority

How Optional

voluntary
180 3.7
optional
99 3.3
required
  • Formal
1.4

Surface Forms

optional positive

Morphology

optional = option (transparent) = option + al

The adjective is formed regularly from 'option' with the suffix '-al', expressing something that is left to choice or is not compulsory.

Etymology

The word optional comes from the Latin verb optare, which means 'to choose', and shares the same root as the common words option and opt. So if something is optional, it is something you can 'choose' to do, not something you must do.